Say What You Like About America . . .

[James2]

But at least it's still a free country. For now anyway.

Stuff like this is why the First Amendment needs to be defended against any encroachment whatsoever. A few years ago, no one would have questioned that New Zealand was a free country. Now they're throwing people in prison for sharing videos. It's a short way from passing laws against "hate speech", to a full Orwellian tyranny, as NZ (and much of western Europe for that matter) has turned into.

https://abcnews.go.com/International/wi ... o-62645858

[GrumpyGoomba]

Well...the guy was surely at fault and what he did was in pretty bad taste... but 14 years in prison for sharing a video to just 30 people sound a bit too much excessive to me.

[James2]

In China, the penalty for posting things on the internet that the government doesn't like is only 5 years. China could literally invade New Zealand, and the people there would be more free than they are now.

The point here isn't what the guy posted. The point is that freedom is a delicate thing, and we're one of the last countries on Earth to still have it. It is our duty as Americans to remain ever vigilant, since we remain perpetually a few bad Supreme Court picks away from turning into a NZ-style police state.

[ElderSivart]

Not all speech is protected, even in the United States.

If challenged, it has to pass the imminet lawless action test, established in Bradenburg v. Ohio.
"Advocacy of force or criminal activity does not receive First Amendment protections if (1) the advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action, and (2) is likely to incite or produce such action."

I'm not a legal expert, I don't know if this specific instance would pass as legal or illegal in the US, but I think it's extreme to call NZ a "police state".

[James2]

Generalized advocacy of violence is constitutionally protected. As the Supreme Court held in Bradenburg v. Ohio. You can call for violence, celebrate violence, and attempt to justify violence all you want, as long as you don't instruct anyone to commit violence right now or against specific persons, it's all protected. Foreigners usually do not understand the extent of American freedom, and disturbingly, neither do an increasing number of Americans.

And yes, throwing someone in prison for 14 years because they posted an offensive video (even just having the video, or the manifesto, carries 10 years under NZ's totalitarian new laws), makes a country a police state. It is a more extreme policy than that of communist China.

[Zucker]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

I would like to say that that is just wishful idealism. No country can always be equal and you know that.

[Crimson97]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

[Zucker]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

Too... much... optimism...
Must... resist...

[Crimson97]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

[Zucker]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

But to be honest, shouldn't countries attempt to become better than the others instead of trying to be equal? Won't that bring about greater improvement?

[Zucker]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

But to be honest, shouldn't countries attempt to become better than the others instead of trying to be equal? Won't that bring about greater improvement?

Why can’t we all improve together?

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

But to be honest, shouldn't countries attempt to become better than the others instead of trying to be equal? Won't that bring about greater improvement?

Why can’t we all improve together?

Because people are competitive in nature and they improve better when working against something than working with something. The only way for humanity to improve together would be to provide them with a much greater common enemy.

[Crimson97]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

But to be honest, shouldn't countries attempt to become better than the others instead of trying to be equal? Won't that bring about greater improvement?

Why can’t we all improve together?

Because people are competitive in nature and they improve better when working against something than working with something. The only way for humanity to improve together would be to provide them with a much greater common enemy.

Death, disease, global warming, injustice,etc. We already have greater common enemies.

[GrumpyGoomba]

I think all country’s are equal!
I don’t like to judge anything.

Equal in what sense?

I think Zucc meant the countries should be considered equal.

I think everything should be on an equal level! ^_^

I agree it should, but it isn't. That's why criticism is necessary.

Criticism makes Improvement! We can all be equal if we try! ^_^

But to be honest, shouldn't countries attempt to become better than the others instead of trying to be equal? Won't that bring about greater improvement?

Why can’t we all improve together?

Because people are competitive in nature and they improve better when working against something than working with something. The only way for humanity to improve together would be to provide them with a much greater common enemy.

Death, disease, global warming, injustice,etc. We already have greater common enemies.

We have improved loads in the medical field in the past few centuries so I will concur that diseases qualify as one. The problem with the other three are these:-
Death is inevitable and thus nothing much can really be done about it. People accept it as the natural order of things and thus don't view it as a common enemy.

People don't take global warming as a threat seriously. Something significantly devastating needs to happen because of it before everybody actually starts being properly vigilant against it. An example would be probably the collapse of the Greenland ice sheet.

The matter with injustice is that the very nature of it's existence makes it impossible for humanity as a whole to view it as an enemy, since injustice has benefited many who have abused it.

What I mean to say is that we require a greater common enemy that would make it so that we cannot afford to squabble amongst ourselves lest it engulfs us all. The things that you mentioned, although disastrous, we can afford to take care of while continuing the conflicts between us... atleast yet that is.

[Zucker]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

[GrumpyGoomba]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

[Zucker]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

What if we all make peace to each other! ^_^

[GrumpyGoomba]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

What if we all make peace to each other! ^_^

And how would we do that?

[Transcender]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

What if we all make peace to each other! ^_^

And how would we do that?

war.

[GrumpyGoomba]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

What if we all make peace to each other! ^_^

And how would we do that?

war.

Precisely.

[Zucker]

What if we all have to protect something? rather then find a greater enemy.

We would still have to protect it from something. And more often than not the thing we have to protect that 'something' from is other humans.

What if we all make peace to each other! ^_^

And how would we do that?

war.

Precisely.

War is never the answer! ^_^