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Comment by anthonybsd | Hacker News Reader

>How dare you call Russia the fascist state when Russian citizens have greater free speech and expression rights than any E.U country, U.K, Australia and New Zealand.

Greater free speech huh? Let's see shall we:

72-year-old Russian woman sentenced to 5 years in prison for anti-war posts on social media [1] https://therecord.media/russian-woman-sentenced-to-prison-ov...

A Russian American Is Sentenced in Russia Over Social Media Posts [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/05/world/europe/russian-amer...

US-Russian dual national jailed for 12 years on treason charges for $52 donation to Ukraine [3] https://www.rochesterfirst.com/news/international/ap-us-russ...

Russian man whose daughter made anti-war painting sentenced to two years in prison [4] https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/europe/russian-man-sentenced-...

>This American certainly hopes so.

Press X for doubt on this one :)

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So in Russia you can't support the country you're currently at war with. In the West you can't criticize a man who stabbed three children at a Taylor Swift concert.

Would you like to reconsider who has greater free speech rights?

American as apple pie. You're a hacker, see where the IP I'm commenting from is located. What hubris to think millions of Americans aren't completely fed up with this fascist empire. If you're still unsure, for 20 years now Congressional approval hasn't cracked 30%.

In Russia you'll be jailed for claiming Russia is at war.

Claiming that Russia has greater free speech right is laughable. Maybe if you compare to North Korea...

I'm sorry but the stats are readily available online. Far more people both in totality and per capita are arrested for saying things online in the non-U.S anglosphere than Russia.

Don't get me wrong, the United States wants the same for its citizens but our annoying Bill of Rights and Supreme Court have slowed the descent into tyranny.

Oh I see. You're just spouting nonsense and hand-waving with stats that doesn't exist.

Doesn’t even matter at this point? Do we have free speech when the boundaries of what is acceptable speech is defined by an oligarchy that is willing to suppress stories in all forms of media?

One thing seems certain to me: we were never free. Those in power will do as they please. Here or in Russia it’s all the same.

If you think it's "all the same" with Russia and the west then you really haven't paid attention.

Right. Because we don’t have Snowden on the run. Because we don’t have a media empire that is suppressing every single Israeli war crime. Because we don’t have international bodies like the ICC being used against our enemies (eg Serbs) and being suppressed against our friends (eg Israelis).

Russia has its interests. It puts them above human rights. We have our interests and guess what we do the same.

Need I remind you that we fabricated reasons to invade Vietnam and Iraq and in the process we killed millions of civilians? Or do you need a list of all the governments we admit to have toppled over the years?

Our misguided belief that we occupy some moral high ground is objectively making the world a worse place. By our hands and by the fact that we are enabling other countries to act the same (eg Iran and Russia). How about instead we concretely define principles and standards that we apply uniformly? Why do we have to pretend like we are uniquely act with impunity on the global stage?

>In the West you can't criticize a man who stabbed three children at a Taylor Swift concert.

Are you talking about this stochastic terrorist who incited riots and called for the murder of hundreds of innocent people? [1] https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/14/woma...

If yes, I think you are utterly delusional at this point.

There can't be any compromise here. I think it's evil to jail people for words. The example you cited should result in a social media suspension.

Terms like "stochastic terrorism" are just linguistic tricks to fool the population into voluntarily relinquishing their civil rights.

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