Similar things are happening in the West given US and Euro govts leaning on Social Media companies to censor dissenting/blasphemous views. Just think - what are you not allowed to say? What will get you banned or blacklisted?
"banned or blacklisted" vs "executed by the state". Definitely equivalent.
The West, in general, within its own territory, is better on just about every civil rights issue than places like Pakistan and China. That doesn't mean it's good: places like Pakistan and China set a pretty low bar.
> The West, in general, within its own territory, is better on just about every civil rights issue than places like Pakistan and China.
"
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Life of Brian Script
Scene 12: Brian Earns Jailor's Pet Title
The sketch:
eerie music
BRIAN: Slipped him a few shekels? You saw him spit in my face!
BEN: Ohh! What wouldn't I give to be spat at in the face! I sometimes hang awake at night dreaming of being spat at in the face.
BRIAN: Well, it's not exactly friendly, is it? They had me in manacles!
BEN: Manacles! Ooh oooh oh oh. My idea of heaven is to be allowed to be put in manacles... just for a few hours. They must think the sun shines out o' your arse, sonny.
BRIAN: Oh, lay off me. I've had a hard time!
BEN: You've had a hard time?! I've been here five years! They only hung me the right way up yesterday! So, don't you come 'rou--
BRIAN: All right. All right.
BEN: They must think you're Lord God Almighty.
BRIAN: What will they do to me?
BEN: Oh, you'll probably get away with crucifixion.
BRIAN: Crucifixion?!
BEN: Yeah, first offence.
BRIAN: Get away with crucifixion?! It's--
BEN: Best thing the Romans ever did for us.
BRIAN: What?!
BEN: Oh, yeah. If we didn't have crucifixion, this country would be in a right bloody mess.
BRIAN: Guards!
BEN: Nail him up, I say!
BRIAN: Guards!
BEN: Nail some sense into him!
JAILER: cough cough What do you want?
BRIAN: I want you to move me to another cell.
JAILER: Ha! ptoo
BRIAN: Aah!
BEN: Oh, look at that! Bloody favoritism!
JAILER: Shut up, you!
BEN: Sorry!
JAILER: Huhh. cough cough
BEN: Now, take my case. They hung me up here five years ago. Every night, they take me down for twenty minutes, then they hang me up again, which I regard as very fair, in view of what I done, and, if nothing else, it's taught me to respect the Romans, and it's taught me... that you'll never get anywhere in this life, unless you're prepared to do a fair day's work for a fair day's pay!
BRIAN: Oh, shut up!
clank
JAILER: Ehhh.
CENTURION: Pilate wants to see you!
BRIAN: Me?
CENTURION: Come on!
BRIAN: Pilate? What does he want to see me for?
CENTURION: I think he wants to know which way up you want to be crucified.
BEN: Oh, ha ha ha haa! Ha haa! Nice one, Centurion. Like it. Like it.
CENTURION: Shut up!
BEN: Right. Right. Terrific race, the Romans. Terrific."
The FBI sending Twitter emails about TOS violations they noticed and being executed for being an atheist are "similar" only if you really torture the definition.
This article misunderstands what a "culture" is. Specific activities do not constitute a culture. Niche interests within a single domain do not constitute a culture. "Interest in Marvel movies" or some other figment of pop culture is not itself a culture, not by a long shot. This is why we can speak of a "pop culture" in the first place, because we sense that many things - nominally unrelated products situated within different domains though they may be - are all related in some important way, contained within a broader popular culture that transcends any of its manifestations. Perhaps the defining mark of popular culture is that the people who consume it and participate in it tend to overlap, or resemble one another. This way of thinking means that cultures are defined more by their participants than anything else.
Culture is broad, it is cohesive, and it extends and influences across many domains. There are absolutely countercultures out there, but most people aren't aware of them given how dominant the dominant culture is, which is generally the case but especially true today.
"Counterculture" is a very US- and Anglo-centric term to begin with. It implies that there is a "mainstream" culture to be opposed. In this view there are nerds with eyeglasses and specific interests and normies with a better chance of reproduction. The mainstream culture is the post-WW2 consumer culture that grew around commercial TV shows, blockbuster movies and advertising and household consumption through items like washing machines and vacuum cleaners.
Today, YouTube and TikTok are channels which multiply and amplify this kind of culture worldwide.
Culture and Counterculture have always existed. What you're describing is just the most recent instance of the Culture/Counterculture dichotomy. That doesn't mean the entire concept is inapplicable to other places or times.
Others are saying he's being treated with kid gloves because he's Jewish. I hope you'd find that objectionable. It's just as bad as what you're doing here.
If people live in a low density area, we can assume they want to live in a low density area. So it makes perfect sense they would be against making their low density area high density. What is so uncomfortable about that?
To get at what your really implying though, what's wrong with maintaining some degree of cultural homogeneity in a neighborhood? It's a good thing in that it makes for high trust communities.
The problem is mostly the welfare state. But the Leftists and their media cronies will never admit it, of course.
They drive the narrative. This continued decay is on them. They like to pretend the Truss debacle was something entirely of her own making which they merely observed and reported, but it was an engineered political takedown. The Tories of course are pathetic and spineless so they put up little resistance.
I’m fine with German taxation and the German welfare state, I’m also fine with a minimal state where I have to pay for healthcare.
What I don’t like is the current situation in the UK, where I pay more income tax than I would pay in Germany and I also have to pay for healthcare and childcare and education.
One downside to a bunch of small companies instead of a few large ones: competition is fiercer, the small companies can't rest on their laurels the way the large ones do. Consequently work life balance deteriorates for the average worker.
Yes the two Parties can agree on a few things, that does not imply "one Party oligarchy". In fact much of the dysfunction in government can be traced to the wildly different positions of the two parties.
However if we want to talk Oligarchy we can view the US as being dominated culturally by Liberal (classical sense) values. Open Society, all that stuff. This manifests in politics.
> Yes the two Parties can agree on a few things, that does not imply "one Party oligarchy"
Those 'few things' define the oligarchy. As the Princeton study found out.
> Open Society, all that stuff.
That's a false perception. There's nothing open about the existing American oligarchy. The famous UCSC study referenced in the grandparent comment found out that ~30,000 people (including women, children) constitute the American elite class and they are extremely class conscious and exclusive. They hold balls to introduce their children into their own society for coming of age, they intermarry within themselves, they monopolize all positions of power among themselves. The study found out that they monopolize everywhere from governors' seats to senate to corporate boards.
Even the people who are more or less familiar with this think that because there are some 'exceptions' to this in the tech sector due to the existence of startups and also a few upwardly mobile upper middle class personas occasionally marry into that oligarchy, there isn't an oligarchy and the society is 'open' and upwardly mobile. But exceptions don't make a rule. Even the anomaly that is the tech sector is a rule-taker in American economy and politics, not a rule maker. The rules are still made by mostly East Coast 'old money' families and the elite networks that their social groups constitute. Here are the critical findings of the study again:
Those two parties agree on most things that actually matter.
They are both right wing capitalist parties.
Sure - one of them might talk about LGBT rights or whatever. But when a LGBT person gets in an accident - they will still receive a crippling medical bill. Unlike in "homophobic" countries like Poland, South Korea or Japan.
