what we are seeing is that thanks to social media, more discourse is public. which leads to more prosecutions. that is not a regression. that stuff has always been prosecuted. and they go against hate speech, not wrong think.
Threats are something different
I think we’re far beyond hate speech being thought crime. It also means you can’t be honest about your reasons or viewpoint, thereby poisoning the public debate.
if that is not what you are talking about then we will have to look at he actual numbers being pointed out and the message they come with and the response to that.
While I think the Vance meme reflects very poorly on my country, it is always advisable to remember that you have very limited rights in every country while crossing the border and that it best not to piss off the officers. Travel StackExchange is filled with Q&A’s about how to what to do when the customs officials of various rich countries apply their discretion to deny entry, often for reasons even more petty than having a meme.
American exceptionalism is crazy. US is one of the more abusive countries, not some civilized safe haven of individual liberties.
The only thing it should reflect poorly on is reporters who ran with this fake story for clicks.
That has never happened.