• cosecantphi [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    1 year ago

    Not defending cigarette companies, but it really actually does suck that meth is illegal in all 50 states. The United States has the world’s largest prison population, it’s the most authoritarian country on the planet, and that is heavily facilitated by throwing people into prison for using drugs.

    • comfy@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      ‘Authoritarianism’ is a bullshit vague idealist concept that can’t be linearized into ‘more than’, ‘less than’, ‘most’ or ‘least’, and make any sense.

      The USA throw people in prison for decades and enslave them for being a victim of the drug trade. They have one of the largest proportions of imprisoned population in the world.

      They also allow socialists to own guns and propagandize, to a larger degree than most countries.

      Liberalism is complex, contradictory and idealist, so terms like ‘authoritarianism’ are basically meaningless to apply to the real world.

    • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      most authoritarian country on the planet

      Are you by chance familiar with countries that kill LGBTQ people, beat women who don’t cover their hair, and kill drug addicts?

      • cosecantphi [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        Are you familiar with the sheer scale of destruction and death the United States has wrought on the rest of the world in its imperialist adventures? Nothing anywhere else in the modern day even comes close.

      • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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        1 year ago

        Theyre talking about the US, of course they are. Well, the US just beats women without hair coverings coming into it, but the point stands.

        • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          What are you even talking about? I know of no such instance, at least at the systemic level.

          • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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            1 year ago

            Well, I’m sorry you’re ignorant about stochastic terrorism against lgbt people in the US, the epidemic of domestic violence facing women in the US, and the war on drugs.

            • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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              1 year ago

              I am gay and have friends who are trans. Yes, I am well aware of stochastic terrorism against LGBTQ people, as well as how right wing politicians are exploiting nutcases to get votes at the expensive of our safety. Domestic violence I find perplexing. It happens, but it’s illegal and there are many institutions trying to tackle it. The US is far from the worst here, especially considering many countries still don’t recognize domestic violence as a real thing.

              The war on drugs is bad, but the US has a set of policies that are left over from the 1990’s when things were really bad and no one really knew what to do. Even Black leaders went along with them, since their neighborhoods were the ones that were actually affected by the crime wave. Fortunately, we are seeing the slow unwinding of these polities. Now, compare the US’s war on drugs to Singapore (death penalty for drug trafficking) or Dirty Deuterty’s free-for-all on anyone who was even alleged to be a drug addict. Decisions by SCOTUS have limited the death penalty to murder only, and even then it is being slowly abolished.

              • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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                1 year ago

                Okay, cool, youre defending the violence of the current regime. Gotcha.

                Also the US is literally why singapore is like that, crack open a history book.

                • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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                  1 year ago

                  Okay, cool, youre defending the violence of the current regime. Gotcha.

                  Nope. I’m saying that the original claim - that the US is the most authoritarian government in the world - is incredibly ridiculous.

                  Also the US is literally why singapore is like that, crack open a history book.

                  I don’t have an in depth history of every law of every country. That said, I did some searching and I found no real connections besides the underlying law being passed at the same time Nixon started the War on Drugs. But even if the US’s War on Drugs inspired Singapore’s laws, to blame that on the US denies agency to the government and people of Singapore.

                  • OurToothbrush@lemmy.mlM
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                    1 year ago

                    Nope. I’m saying that the original claim - that the US is the most authoritarian government in the world - is incredibly ridiculous.

                    Highest prison population by capita and total, segregated, with 1000s of police killings a year.

                    Props up most of the worlds dictatorships

                    I don’t have an in depth history of every law of every country. That said, I did some searching and I found no real connections besides the underlying law being passed at the same time Nixon started the War on Drugs. But even if the US’s War on Drugs inspired Singapore’s laws, to blame that on the US denies agency to the government and people of Singapore.

                    I said crack open a history book, not aimlessly speculate

    • SaltySalamander@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      it’s the most authoritarian country on the planet

      Let me guess, you’re from the US and you’ve never left.