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Not entirely true. People living authoritarian worry about what they say, they self-censor out of fear, they defer to those in power (even at a local level), th
by graemep 1y ago
Not entirely true. People living authoritarian worry about what they say, they self-censor out of fear, they defer to those in power (even at a local level), they accept a hierarchy of power rather than rights.
I do not entirely disagree without, but lack of freedom does intrude into day to day life to some extent.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- yachad 1y agoEven if you live in a western country you do all of that anyway. Self-censor at work and online so I don’t get fired or banned from w/e. Accept elected officials whose policies don’t match up with popular opinion and accept standard employment hierarchy.
- Rover222 1y agoThat's very different than worrying about going to jail for life or getting disappeared.
- ryandv 1y ago[flagged]
- hax0ron3 1y agoI'm against extrajudicial deportations to El Salvador, but those people are not being deported for their political opinions. As for trans/LGBTQ+ genocide, it does not exist in the West.
- ryandv 1y ago[flagged]
- philipallstar 1y agoThis seems identical to saying that convincing someone with anorexia that they aren't overweight is "social death", and "social death" is (somehow) genocide. I.e. it's nonsense.
- ethersteeds 1y ago[flagged]
- graemep 1y agoBody dysphoria is a recognised mental illness.
- account42 1y ago[flagged]
- graemep 1y agoBeing gay is not generally recognised as mental illness, although it has been in the past. Being trans is less well defined (historically even being gay was not well defined, or defined the same way).
- Akronymus 1y agodysphoria is certainly a mental illness, transitioning is merely one possible treatment for it (though, pushed as one of the first rather than as one of the last options, which I personally find concerning.)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- bombcar 1y agoUsing the same word “genocide” for what is happening in Gaza and what is happening in the US seems to make language pretty useless.
- const_cast 1y agoRepeatedly denying GAC or banning PrEP as Republicans try to do every few months does indeed lead to death, yes. Granted we're not under Reagan, but Republicans are practically praying for another AIDS crisis and doing everything in their power to make it happen. Straight people largely don't know this because, well, it's not their problem.
- bluefirebrand 1y agoCalling this genocide is ridiculous levels of hyperbole This sort of nonsense is why many people do not take LGBT issues very seriously If there was an LGBT genocide happening in America, there would not be open pride celebrations, come on
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago[flagged]
- const_cast 1y ago[flagged]
- Rover222 1y agoThis hyperbolic take hurts your causes more than helps them.
- yachad 1y agoSo what? Lose your job, lose your housing. Prison is at least 3 hots and a cot.
- anikom15 1y agoSome people value freedom more than comfort.
- graemep 1y ago> Prison is at least 3 hots and a cot. Decent prison conditions tend to overlap with countries with decent human rights. IN authoritarian countries you might very well be starved or tortured in prison. You might also just disappear and your body may or may not be found in an identifiable state.
- VerminOctopus1 1y agoI live in the free and morally righteous West and I self censor all the time. Every single day. My beliefs would have me ostracized from communities and fired from my job.
- graemep 1y ago> My beliefs would have me ostracized from communities and fired from my job. but not landed you in prison or disappeared, I take it?
- syndeo 1y agoTrue, but at least in prison you're (usually) fed… which may NOT be the case if you're fired from your job, put on a list, and blocked from the industry.
- trenchpilgrim 1y ago> True, but at least in prison you're (usually) fed… Not adequately or safely. https://impactjustice.org/new-report-provides-first-ever-national-examination-of-food-in-u-s-prisons/ https://impactjustice.org/new-report-provides-first-ever-nat...
- account42 1y agoStill better than the in the average US school.
- trenchpilgrim 1y agoThe linked report describes a case study of a prison where rat droppings were falling from the ceiling into the prison kitchen. It also states 75% of surveyed prisoners reported being served spoiled or rotting food. Was your school worse than that?
- account42 1y agoThey might, if not now then possibly in the future. See e.g. people in the UK getting arrested for tweets.
- int_19h 1y agoIt depends a lot on what kind of authoritarian society it is. It's not a binary, and many are "soft authoritarian" meaning that citizens don't have any effective control over their government, but it doesn't actively try to suppress even minute dissent DPRK-style. In most of those countries, people don't actually worry that much about what they say because it doesn't matter at their level. It only matters if you're a public person saying things in a very public way.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- blitzar 1y ago> worry about what they say, they self-censor out of fear, they defer to those in power Sounds a lot like having a job.
- deadfoxygrandpa 1y agoits like what the old east german people said after the wall fell. i forget the exact phrase but its something like: "before, i could criticize my boss but i couldn't criticize the government. now i can criticize the government but i can't criticize my boss"
- graemep 1y agoI agree that is a problem, particular with the concentration of power in small industries and the cultural homogenisation of people in power. I recall in 2016 British employers who said they would fire any employees they discovered voted for Brexit - of course the only way they could find out is if people said how the voted but that is a free speech issue. I think we need legal protections for things like free speech that we have traditionally had against governments to apply to employers and service providers. I think legislation that prevents various forms of discrimination proves it is achievable.
- yieldcrv 1y agoWe’ve self censored regarding the state narrative on Israel/Palestine our entire lives in the west Just because the censorship is outsourced to the private sector, mostly, doesn’t make the day to day any different when you rely on support of the private sector, alongside discretionary support from the state Visa holders are experiencing detainment for this specific thing, this cycle. And in other western democracies anyone can be fined and imprisoned for it as well Wishful thinking that there is imperviousness to disagreeing with the state narrative in the west The reality is that it’s not always on the mind 100% of the time and you learn to appreciate the day to day life under Eastern and Western authoritarian systems
- sunaookami 1y agoIn Germany you literally get your house raided if you critize a politician online. A journalist got a suspended sentence because he posted a pic of then-interior minister holding a sign that was edited to read "I hate freedom of speech".
- graemep 1y agoLots of bad things in the west, certainly, but there is a huge difference between a suspended sentence and getting murdered: https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/sri-lanka-failing-to-probe-journalist-murders-press-group-idUSCOL168351/ https://www.reuters.com/article/economy/sri-lanka-failing-to... Picking on not the worst country in the world, but one I know (and was living in at the time this was at its worst). Things have changed there since, thankfully.