• XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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      2 years ago

      most authoritarian countries

      In the US, 0.7% of the population is in prison. That’s nearly one out of every hundred citizens and the highest per capita of incarcerated citizens in the world. Higher than Russia, higher than China, higher than North Korea.

      Land of the free indeed. Propaganda works.

        • XIIIesq@lemmy.world
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          2 years ago

          I’m not saying China is great. I’m saying I’m sceptical of a country that throws it’s military power around the world whilst they simultaneously tell us who the enemy is.

          Last time I checked the Chinese didn’t kill 400K+ civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan or sponsor the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.

          • dynamojoe@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            Does your comment count as “moving the goalposts” (changing the subject from CCP to USA) or an “Appeal to Emotion” (dead civilians) or a strawman argument (USA ‘sponsors’ collective punishment)? I got a bingo card to fill out.

      • SCB@lemmy.world
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        2 years ago

        In the US, people vote on laws, and the laws that put so many people in prison were massively popular until we realized “oh fuck there sure are a lot of people in prison and this problem isn’t solved at all.”

        I’ll take people democratically getting things wrong 100% of the time over “authoritarian regime that hasn’t come for you yet”

        So yes, land of the free, and free people sometimes do dumb shit.

          • SCB@lemmy.world
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            2 years ago

            This is a description of actual events that actually happened. Nothing in my comment is an interpretation of anything whatsoever.

            If you don’t believe War on Drugs laws like the Crime Bill were popular, that’s simply because you’ve done no research. The 1994 bill now seen as “racist” had 58% support in the minority community, a trend that continued for some time.

            The cool thing about democracy is people can look around and say “oh shit we fucked up.” All you have to do is change enough minds.