[A4ET8a8uTh0]

I don't disagree in an abstract, but the issue I have is with an argument that relies on 'obvious' as a flag. Not everything is obvious ( and most things could be argued ). In fact, some things may appear obvious only to be lost in the sea of nuance. This is the reason I object to arguing along the lines of obviousness. North Korea and Sweden are very different countries in just about every way I can think of. It would take a tremendous stretch of language ( and rather ignorant audience ) to convincingly argue that Sweden is just as oppressive. With America and China it is not as straightforward a comparison, because those countries do share some interesting characteristics so less of a stretch is needed.

The issue gets muddled, however because the word lockdown is discussed without any nuance attached to it. In US, it was challenged in courts and people ( clearly ) mostly did what they wanted to do ( that said, some businesses got fined heavily ) despite heavy media shaming, whereas in China lockdowns included stories ( among others ) of sealing off entire buildings without allowing their denizens for any way out. Despite the same word, those two approaches are very different in application ( edit: and results ).

[IshKebab]

Ok maybe I should have said "obvious if you have read anything at all about China's covid lockdowns". I think it was fair to assume that he had read at least something about them given his strong opinions on the matter.