Freedom of speech all around the world is eroding (some places more than others of course), step by step, we agree on that.
But I disagree that the US is any different, and is certainly not at the top of the ladder. To be clear: I mean freedom in practice, not freedom in legal theory.
"freedom of speech" is to the US as "politeness" is to Canadians: mostly true, but generally a stereotype that is fading with time.
I always thought it was funny in a tragicomic way, that a country that has freedom as one of its top virtues is the same one where you would quickly get sued (if not imprisoned) for acts considered harmless in other countries.
Perhaps the true free citizens of the US are corporations, to the detriment of natural persons.
Maybe this is not obvious until you've lived both in and out of North America for long enough.
I have little to add except perhaps that the truly free citizens have the capital to either a) hire good lawyers, or b) scoff any financial expenses and fines because they are the equivalent of pennies to them.
IIRC Jeff was renovating an apartment in NYC and he had his car parked somewhere for days with accumulating fines in the order of 10s of thousands but really, those numbers are 6-7 orders of magnitude smaller than his wealth.
But I disagree that the US is any different, and is certainly not at the top of the ladder. To be clear: I mean freedom in practice, not freedom in legal theory.
"freedom of speech" is to the US as "politeness" is to Canadians: mostly true, but generally a stereotype that is fading with time.
I always thought it was funny in a tragicomic way, that a country that has freedom as one of its top virtues is the same one where you would quickly get sued (if not imprisoned) for acts considered harmless in other countries.
Perhaps the true free citizens of the US are corporations, to the detriment of natural persons.
Maybe this is not obvious until you've lived both in and out of North America for long enough.