The great thing about secrecy is that you never really know what's going on. Exactly who is in Guantanamo or the secret CIA prisons, and why?
Do you honestly believe that prosecutions, FBI investigations, etc are never politically motivated?
Do you honestly believe that prosecutions, FBI investigations, etc are never politically motivated?
Take a look at: http://www.thislife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?episode=310
There's audio, and here's a direct link to the written transcript of the episode:
http://www.thislife.org/extras/radio/310_transcript.pdf
An excerpt: "As best as we can tell, Badr Zaman Badr and his brother were imprisoned in Guantanamo for three years for telling a joke. Actually, for telling two jokes."
I guess on second thought you are absolutely correct. These people weren't jailed in gitmo for their political beliefs after all - they just landed there because the US govt decided to listen to some random guy who was upset at being the target of their humor.
Also, the main point here is that even if the US were prosecuting people for their politics, which they are not, it would not make what Google is doing any better. What Google is doing is directly aiding in the political prosecution of people in China, and nothing makes this right.
I think I've said now more than enough, and so I withdraw from this thread.
I was responding to the statement you made 'I have 0 evidence of anyone jailed or killed for their political beliefs in this country. Do you have any?'
Withdraw if you like. I'm normally not one to get into political/ideological debates, but a statement like this deserves to be challenged.
Yes, my examples are foreigners in a time of war. But, you said 'anyone', not US Citizens. But even if you ignore this (which I wouldn't really - a society should be judged by how it treats humans regardless of which country they happen to be a part of), you are still misguided.
How about Martin Luther King being jailed for anti-segregation protests? Does that count to your re-framed question?
I don't know if this could happen today (although the stage seems to be set with the wonderfully named Patriot Act which among other things has a section 215 which allows the FBI to search your library records), but the fact that it happened only a few decades ago should make you think twice before uttering blanket statements.
Well, not you, and not anyone you know.
The mere fact that you're comfortable posting this stuff on a public site, under your own name, demonstrates that you have ZERO fear that someone will break down your door tonight and take you off to a "secret prison".
To be quite blunt: you don't even believe your own bullshit.
I suppose I could have said that Paul B.'s position (and that of several others) is a classic example of the tu quoque variety of ad hominem fallacy, but that would basically just be using Latin to say the same thing.
I'm outta here.