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Simple test to see if you currently live in a police state: You've freely typed this critical comment about the government on an internet message board. You wil

Simple test to see if you currently live in a police state: You've freely typed this critical comment about the government on an internet message board. You will be comfortably typing another critical comment Monday morning when you are back at work and were not thrown in jail over the weekend to rot. You don't live in a police state.

axus 13y ago
We do need to keep checking every few months to be sure. I never felt the need to do that 10 years ago.
rdtsc 13y ago
> Simple test to see if you currently live in a police state: You've freely typed this critical comment about the government on an internet message board. Actually...no, I did think about posting it. A month or two ago, I wouldn't have. I am actively engaging in censorship. I still posted it, but I did hesitate for a while. What if I have a defense related project in the future? Will they read back to me this comment? It did cross my mind. So by that test well, it got worse certainly.
- res0nat0r 13y ago
  Ever since AltaVista/Lycos/Hotbot et al what you type and say online can come back to haunt you. This isn't anything new....
graeme 13y ago
This test fails to detect many existing police states. I lived in Cuba for a while. Many people would consider that a police state. Yet people were free to vocally criticize the government. And they did. The government tolerated it because they knew those particular people were harmless. It only clamped down on those that posed an actual threat to their authority.
- danudey 13y ago
  The ideal police state treats law-abiding citizens very well (free schooling, education, social programs, etc.), and treats law-breaking citizens very poorly. Cuba is an especially interesting case because it's a communist police state which is also a tourist destination for huge amounts of free, affluent Westerners every year. That means that they can't use any of the standard 'scare tactics' of a police state (assuming they would if they could), such as having soldiers policing the street constantly. I was also told by a guide that they don't allow imagery of the ruling leader (e.g. posters to say 'Hey, Fidel is so great!') because they don't want government to turn into hero worship. After a leader is dead, then their image can be used in 'publicity', but not before. So Cuba's a really interesting state.
  - graeme 13y ago
    They police people pretty heavily with neighborhood watch associations called CDRs. But, from my experience, the hammer only came down when someone rose above a certain threshold of undesired activity. You're right, I saw no Fidel images. Tons of Che.
deleted 13y ago
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axus 13y ago

We do need to keep checking every few months to be sure. I never felt the need to do that 10 years ago.

rdtsc 13y ago

> Simple test to see if you currently live in a police state: You've freely typed this critical comment about the government on an internet message board. Actually...no, I did think about posting it. A month or two ago, I wouldn't have. I am actively engaging in censorship. I still posted it, but I did hesitate for a while. What if I have a defense related project in the future? Will they read back to me this comment? It did cross my mind. So by that test well, it got worse certainly.

res0nat0r 13y ago
Ever since AltaVista/Lycos/Hotbot et al what you type and say online can come back to haunt you. This isn't anything new....

graeme 13y ago

This test fails to detect many existing police states. I lived in Cuba for a while. Many people would consider that a police state. Yet people were free to vocally criticize the government. And they did. The government tolerated it because they knew those particular people were harmless. It only clamped down on those that posed an actual threat to their authority.

danudey 13y ago
The ideal police state treats law-abiding citizens very well (free schooling, education, social programs, etc.), and treats law-breaking citizens very poorly. Cuba is an especially interesting case because it's a communist police state which is also a tourist destination for huge amounts of free, affluent Westerners every year. That means that they can't use any of the standard 'scare tactics' of a police state (assuming they would if they could), such as having soldiers policing the street constantly. I was also told by a guide that they don't allow imagery of the ruling leader (e.g. posters to say 'Hey, Fidel is so great!') because they don't want government to turn into hero worship. After a leader is dead, then their image can be used in 'publicity', but not before. So Cuba's a really interesting state.
- graeme 13y ago
  They police people pretty heavily with neighborhood watch associations called CDRs. But, from my experience, the hammer only came down when someone rose above a certain threshold of undesired activity. You're right, I saw no Fidel images. Tons of Che.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]