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(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2020, @03:00PM
by Anonymous Coward
on Thursday July 02 2020, @03:00PM (#1015414)
I definitely do not agree with this notion. In my opinion libertarianism is particularly under assault in the United States, and to a lesser degree in Western/Central Europe.
The other 90% of the world nobody ever talks about lacks certain niceties, but I find them to be vastly more free places *in general*. One major difference are the liberties you gain and lose. In America you're free to call the government and other people all sorts of nasty things. But that's pretty much the main liberty you have. And it's increasingly becoming a facade. Say the wrong thing and you can find a hate mob going out of their way to ruin your life and meet words with violence. Similarly, the pseudo-governmental companies companies which are increasingly gatekeeper's can erase you without any recompense whatsoever.
But in much of the rest of the world by contrast you have vastly more freedom of action. Want to sell stuff outside your home? You can. Want to turn your home into a restaurant? Can do. Want to have overgrown trees in your front yard because you think they look beautiful? Can do. In general people and the government leave you alone unless you start actively screwing up society. And that is the way things should be. The downside is you often end up sacrificing freedom of speech. And in times of tyranny that would be abysmal. Yet in America today we already see that our freedom of speech is a facade. If the government wants to ban some topic or prevent some person from speaking - they can do so trivially, without ever having to pass a single law. In some ways it's much worse, because there's no accountability. Oh every single American card and financial processing institution decided to start rejecting donations to Wikileaks? Don't worry - they're just private institutions doing whatever they want. I mean don't you now, massive multinational financial organizations just love engaging in actions that do nothing but make them lose money. No governmental action there, nope - none at all.
So while I think freedom of action and freedom of speech are both critical, if I'm left to choose one over the other it would be the one that actually involves doing things.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 02 2020, @03:00PM
I definitely do not agree with this notion. In my opinion libertarianism is particularly under assault in the United States, and to a lesser degree in Western/Central Europe.
The other 90% of the world nobody ever talks about lacks certain niceties, but I find them to be vastly more free places *in general*. One major difference are the liberties you gain and lose. In America you're free to call the government and other people all sorts of nasty things. But that's pretty much the main liberty you have. And it's increasingly becoming a facade. Say the wrong thing and you can find a hate mob going out of their way to ruin your life and meet words with violence. Similarly, the pseudo-governmental companies companies which are increasingly gatekeeper's can erase you without any recompense whatsoever.
But in much of the rest of the world by contrast you have vastly more freedom of action. Want to sell stuff outside your home? You can. Want to turn your home into a restaurant? Can do. Want to have overgrown trees in your front yard because you think they look beautiful? Can do. In general people and the government leave you alone unless you start actively screwing up society. And that is the way things should be. The downside is you often end up sacrificing freedom of speech. And in times of tyranny that would be abysmal. Yet in America today we already see that our freedom of speech is a facade. If the government wants to ban some topic or prevent some person from speaking - they can do so trivially, without ever having to pass a single law. In some ways it's much worse, because there's no accountability. Oh every single American card and financial processing institution decided to start rejecting donations to Wikileaks? Don't worry - they're just private institutions doing whatever they want. I mean don't you now, massive multinational financial organizations just love engaging in actions that do nothing but make them lose money. No governmental action there, nope - none at all.
So while I think freedom of action and freedom of speech are both critical, if I'm left to choose one over the other it would be the one that actually involves doing things.