Hacker News Reader

My point was absolutely not (c). The US has a vast and complex array of sociopolitical, economic disparity, racism, police brutality issues, some of which have been highlighted throughout 2020. But I definitely consider it to be the lesser of two evils.

View on HN

The lesser of two evils is still collecting literally as much data as it can on you. And helping the Saudis with it too:

https://theintercept.com/2014/07/25/nsas-new-partner-spying-...

US Intelligence has too long a history of its own largely consequence-free abuses too. Someone else having a surveillance state doesn't make the one at home any better.

Someone from outside the US will probably worry more about its history of backing coups than the domestic problems you mentioned. If the US puts a Pinochet in my country and their algorithms say I'm likely to be a communist sympathizer, am I at risk?

Definitely. Those of us from Latin American countries have a history with the US that we don't have with China, and so while China might be bad to us, we are (mostly) outside its sphere of direct influence; on the other hand, the US has a proven track record of supporting blood-thirsty and ruthless dictators in the relatively recent past, and meddling with our democratic institutions and electoral processes, so it's the "biggest threat" to us, so to speak.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com