this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2024
211 points (80.9% liked)

Memes

45727 readers
1070 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] lousyd@lemmy.sdf.org -5 points 1 day ago (30 children)

...says the guy on Lemmy criticizing the U.S. government and not getting thrown in jail for it.

[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 day ago (22 children)

You do understand that free speech that doesn't threaten the government is tolerated everywhere, right? Us having more free speech here is just a function of the US government feeling more secure in its power, you can still find examples of free speech being punished in the US when it has threatened its power.

[–] starman2112@sh.itjust.works -3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Lmao "free speech that doesn't threaten the government is tolerated everywhere"

This statement would still be true if you were talking about Oceania. It's totally meaningless. Who decides what speech threatens the government? The government. I can say fuck Joe Biden, fuck Donald Trump, and fuck every member of Congress and the Supreme Court. Can you point me towards someone living in China who's comfortable openly saying "fuck Xi Jinping?"

[–] OurToothbrush@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Who decides what speech threatens the government? The government.

Uhuh. In other words, governments restrict speech that they think threatens them.

I can say fuck Joe Biden, fuck Donald Trump, and fuck every member of Congress and the Supreme Court. Can you point me towards someone living in China who’s comfortable openly saying “fuck Xi Jinping?”

First off, how many Chinese people have you actually talked to? You know there are Chinese people on the internet that you can talk to, right? And foreign exchange students? You can even visit the country if you want.

And yes, you're free to say things that don't actually threaten the US, like saying fuck Trump or Fuck Biden. You're allowed to be as ineffectual as you'd like. Compare your statements to all the black lives matter organizers who've been found to commit suicide by bullets to the back of the head or public hanging from trees.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (19 replies)
load more comments (26 replies)