Re: свобода - это рабство (Freedom is Slavery)
For the record, I neither up or down voted your comment. I'd rather talk about it.
> [...] Really? Is that the same Government that lets tech companies get away with pretty much anything?
Oh you mean those tech companies who are funding and heavily lobbying the government to continue to erode our power in order to protect themselves? Yeah, the tech companies are not much better IMHO. I definitely believe Google internally changed their legal definition of "evil" so they could keep the facade of "Don't be Evil" in their motto. Think Ajit Pai isn't talking to Comcast, or Verizon, or AT&T off the record? There's no way he could be saying the things he's said or doing what he's doing without being bought and sold - and no one in power is stopping him.
> [...] Can you write dumb shit like your latest Internet opus, without fear of consequences or reprisal from the Government?
Nope, no I can't. This is on the interwebs forever - and if I get arrested for anything later, a gung-ho prosecutor can probably find it and twist or partially redact my words to change the context to fit their narrative while sending me up for some viciously up-charged crime to make an example out of me. The phrase "has a history of rejecting authority" comes to mind "just look at this online post!" they'd say. I'd rather frame it as "questioning authority", but if I'm in court later I have to deal with "peers" like you who would likely eat up the prosecution's story... Because in my country, YOU are part of the government by voting and serving on a jury, and I'm already catching reprisals from you. ;-)
> [...] Can you vote? Can you form a political party? Can you run for office?
Yup can do all of those things - but the effectiveness of all those things has been reduced to insignificance. I vote in what is effectively a two party system, in a state that votes differently from me on balance. When I go to another place in my own country and it is learned where I am from, assumptions are made as to my political leanings. That, yes does have an effective impact on how I am treated. Sure I could form a political party, and it would be an absolute waste of time and money as even if I could throw billions of my own dollars at my newly formed party to attempt to compete with the two dominant parties, the campaign donation laws passed by the two parties make that illegal. I could run for office, but when you sign on as one of the two parties that is likely to win, you have to accept their backing to be nominated and that seems to come with strings attached which would compromise my integrity.
> [...] Can the right to work be taken away from you? Is your religion - whichever that may be - being persecuted? Conversely, are you subject to persecution because you have no religious affiliation -- i.e. agnostic or atheist?
I am agnostic, because I see religion created by man (neuter) for man (neuter), to be fallible though it is taught as infallible - thus I don't care about religion, not an atheist how needs to shove that logic down people's throats. That said, I don't live in China, and I'm not being murdered for my organs by a totalitarian state - so there's that.
> [...] Can you own a gun?
Where I live (California), they would like to tell me "No" and for no other reason that for them to FEEL safe. It scares the crap out of me that there are people in my Government that just want to do away with those pesky constitutional rights because they are afraid.
> [...] Can you get married?
If I was gay in certain areas of my country, you might be surprised to find that the answer would be "No".
> [...] If you have children, can they attend kindergarten, school, high school, college and get an education?
Try NOT sending your kids to school see what happens.
> [...] Can you own property? Do you own property?
Try not paying taxes on the things you own, to see if you really own them.
> [...] Does the Secret Police knock your door down, with a ram, at 3AM, and take you and your family to an undisclosed location, in a white armored van marked Wedding Cakes?
Typically the police don't make it a secret when they do things these days, because people are so desensitized to being roughed up, detained or searched without cause - that if the police came to my door at 3AM, the most that would happen is a neighbor yelling "Be Quiet!" to me while I'm kicking an screaming. Police are so "well trained" on what passes for "bomb components" that if you were to happen to have both a full gas can and a few spare road flares in the same garage (never mind not stored anywhere near each other!) they could "lawfully" detain you for running a bomb factory. Don't even let them near your household cleaners... and oh my gosh he has a soldering iron! Once a life is ruined by those actions, trust me it doesn't go back to normal, but everyone else forgets about it and moves on.
So - in summary response to your claim that I'm an "internet crazy", I'd counter are you and I really as "free" as you'd believe? Now your moment of meditation and reflection. You offer measures for freedom, but have you noticed how constrained those definitions have become? Is your line in the sand something that can easily be walked around without crossing it? Are you even equipped to notice?