Comment by aeternum | Hacker News Reader

Comment by aeternum | Hacker News Reader

This sounds good an all but you're incredibly unlikely to be asked to murder someone.

Instead, suppose you're the government bureaucrat who must decide whether this vaccine hesitant individual gets medical care or keeps their job which is their family's sole income. Are you really going to oppose the state or is this an acceptable level of authoritarianism for the greater good?

What if the state requires you to report any known illegal immigrant or face jail time and steep fines. You know some illegal immigrants, are you going to refuse to obey in advance?

What if the state requires you to put pronouns in your linkedin and HN profile, are you going to refuse in advance?

Where do you draw the line on rule of law vs. authoritarianism?

> What if the state requires you to put pronouns in your linkedin and HN profile, are you going to refuse in advance?

Correct. And the rule of law ensures that I can sue as it violates my rights of free speech.

Right now, that institution is being put to the test.

I already responded, but I have to say I love this comment.

And of all the people in the world who know how to slow roll degradation of rights, middle managers and administrators are great at it.

At that point, if there is a credible threat of those decrees being enforced, it's already over. The point is that obedience in advance empowers authoritarians to start ratcheting up the abuse.

edit: also but sorry, complying with vaccine mandates isn't the best start for the slope you're trying to slick up.

Are you saying that authoritarianism happens without threat of decrees being enforced? That's an uncommon perspective.

In any case, what lines would you draw, what specifically would you refuse to prevent authoritarianism?

First they came for people without pronouns their email signature, and I did not speak out because I was not a person without pronouns their email signature.

Your first example is confusing. They're an anti-vaxxer but worried about not having access to a doctor to administer it?

I think he's referring to vaccine mandates.

You don’t remember them talking about hospital care for the unvaccinated?

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