• Alphane Moon@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    From my experience living in the US, the country is not a good reference point for any discussions around the nature of free speech.

    Free speech polemics in the US largely have a demonstrative role with individuals parroting random copytext that they’ve heard before in an attempt to position themselves as being special and independent.

    In a way, the whole thing is very entertaining.

    • cygnus@lemmy.ca
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      6 days ago

      Every state or social group has its shibboleths - the American one is just to performatively pretend they don’t have any.

    • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      There is that.

      American democrats, though, irritated me more until I’ve started noticing Republicans. They have that “parties switched in 1960s” myth (only parties’ ideas on race switched, while the main ideology of the democratic party is not too different from “progressives” of 1890s, those guys who advocated for prophylactic lynchings ; and it’s the same about Republicans, whose “anti-racist” ideas were just as Christian fundamentalism based as their today’s projects), and also the “popular party” myth (while even in appearances being something to the top of which only people born with a silver spoon in mouth can get).

      At the same time the “free speech” stuff over there seems to mostly be about “they in their totalitarian countries (or pockets of society dominated by the other party) are lied by their propaganda media, and we here are free and are told the truth”.

      Not sure it’s entertaining, it looks depressing. But I haven’t lived in the US.