4 ms·

I don't think that was their intention. I believe their goal was something along the lines of, "You can point out our flaws all you want, but you've got problem

by jefe78 14y ago

I don't think that was their intention. I believe their goal was something along the lines of, "You can point out our flaws all you want, but you've got problems too." type of thing. Although, I think it was primarily just a propaganda piece for local citizens. None of this is to say that fingers shouldn't be pointed. Everyone has flaws, it's a question of whether those flaws are being addressed and worked on. I think I know which country of the two is making a genuine effort...

pyre 14y ago
Neither?
- jefe78 14y ago
  Perhaps you're right. I feel like China has regressed quite a bit in that capacity though. I try and stay up to date on American politics and from what I can tell, there are some 'good intention' efforts towards fixing some of these issues. Unfortunately, a lot of them seem misguided; in my opinion.
antidoh 14y ago
My impression, from living here all my life, is that very little is being actively done by our government to improve human rights in the US, and very much time, effort and money is being spent on reducing human rights. Three example areas are the War on Drugs, the War on Terrorism, and the War on Intellectual Property Consumers.
- philwelch 14y ago
  The government can't really do that much to improve human rights, but they can do a lot to curtail them. The funny thing is that, while there are a lot of problems I'll get into later, the US is one of the best countries in the world when it comes to your rights against the local policeman. You have every legal right to say nothing to them other than maybe presenting your identification, you have every legal right to deny them a search unless they have a warrant, and once you're in custody, you have every legal right to shut your mouth and say nothing, and they aren't even allowed to beat you up. Any evidence that is gathered in violation of a person's civil rights is thrown out in court. Add in the freedom to express any political viewpoint whatsoever without worrying about violating some vague "hate crimes" laws and the constitutional right to own firearms, and we're at a point that most European countries would say is outright excessive in terms of personal freedom. As I mentioned though, I don't want to whitewash the US record. Police abuses do happen far too often, the TSA is an obnoxious joke, and asset forfeiture is a very problematic principle. The FBI, CIA, and NSA can in theory do nasty things to you, but they can do nasty things to you whether or not you're American. Plus, once you've gone through the due process, the prisons are pretty fucking awful and you have to stay there for an excessive period of time. And we have a death penalty. And the drug laws are a joke.
  - antidoh 14y ago
    "The government can't really do that much to improve human rights, but they can do a lot to curtail them." I agree with this general idea, but there is one very effective thing the govt can do to improve human rights, and that is to not curtail them. Rolling back human rights reduction would be an unexpected bonus, but I'd be happy if they just stopped painting us into a smaller corner.
- jefe78 14y ago
  All valid points. Perhaps I need to read/watch alternative media sources. I mostly don't hear about those issues for the most part. Any recommendations for factual/somewhat unbiased information?
  - antidoh 14y ago
    I don't have any specific recommendations. Almost all sources of information are biased. You can use that as a feature, to see the perspective that the source is trying to influence you with, or you can at least be aware of it. Basically, treat every source of information critically. I come to my current perspective from years of watching.

by jefe78 14y ago

pyre 14y ago

Neither?

jefe78 14y ago
Perhaps you're right. I feel like China has regressed quite a bit in that capacity though. I try and stay up to date on American politics and from what I can tell, there are some 'good intention' efforts towards fixing some of these issues. Unfortunately, a lot of them seem misguided; in my opinion.

antidoh 14y ago

My impression, from living here all my life, is that very little is being actively done by our government to improve human rights in the US, and very much time, effort and money is being spent on reducing human rights. Three example areas are the War on Drugs, the War on Terrorism, and the War on Intellectual Property Consumers.

philwelch 14y ago
The government can't really do that much to improve human rights, but they can do a lot to curtail them. The funny thing is that, while there are a lot of problems I'll get into later, the US is one of the best countries in the world when it comes to your rights against the local policeman. You have every legal right to say nothing to them other than maybe presenting your identification, you have every legal right to deny them a search unless they have a warrant, and once you're in custody, you have every legal right to shut your mouth and say nothing, and they aren't even allowed to beat you up. Any evidence that is gathered in violation of a person's civil rights is thrown out in court. Add in the freedom to express any political viewpoint whatsoever without worrying about violating some vague "hate crimes" laws and the constitutional right to own firearms, and we're at a point that most European countries would say is outright excessive in terms of personal freedom. As I mentioned though, I don't want to whitewash the US record. Police abuses do happen far too often, the TSA is an obnoxious joke, and asset forfeiture is a very problematic principle. The FBI, CIA, and NSA can in theory do nasty things to you, but they can do nasty things to you whether or not you're American. Plus, once you've gone through the due process, the prisons are pretty fucking awful and you have to stay there for an excessive period of time. And we have a death penalty. And the drug laws are a joke.
- antidoh 14y ago
  "The government can't really do that much to improve human rights, but they can do a lot to curtail them." I agree with this general idea, but there is one very effective thing the govt can do to improve human rights, and that is to not curtail them. Rolling back human rights reduction would be an unexpected bonus, but I'd be happy if they just stopped painting us into a smaller corner.
jefe78 14y ago
All valid points. Perhaps I need to read/watch alternative media sources. I mostly don't hear about those issues for the most part. Any recommendations for factual/somewhat unbiased information?
- antidoh 14y ago
  I don't have any specific recommendations. Almost all sources of information are biased. You can use that as a feature, to see the perspective that the source is trying to influence you with, or you can at least be aware of it. Basically, treat every source of information critically. I come to my current perspective from years of watching.