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by togetheragainor 445 days ago
> Europeans are getting interrogated in US airport detention rooms over liking tweets critical of Trump

Oh no, they’re being asked about tweets? Is that worse than the UK arresting its citizens in the middle of the night over their tweets? Or threatening to extradite Americans over their tweets? Thank god America has Europe to look to as a bastion of liberal democracy.
2 comments
actionfromafar 445 days ago
Oh no, what-about-ism. The US was known for having incredibly liberal free speech laws, not only on the books but in actual, honest-to-goodness, practice.

Well, that's gone, and what's worse, so is the reputation. The rule of law can be restored tomorrow. The perception of rule of law, will take generations to fix, if ever.

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mardifoufs 445 days ago
That's not what whataboutism is. Bringing whataboutism here is just pure deflection. A European being concerned about getting arrested for his tweets in the US makes just as much sense as an American not wanting to go to Europe because of gun violence in Europe.
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togetheragainor 445 days ago
Perhaps you’re not American and unfamiliar with the situation here, but Trump’s election was largely a reaction against the Democratic Party’s abandonment of the rule of law.

This played out at the local level, with progressive district attorneys and progressive judges refusing to prosecute or sentence criminals. And at the national level with the Biden administration failing to enforce a sensible border policy, against the wishes of the majority of Americans.

Is Trump going too far in the opposite direction? Maybe, but the prior administration did far more to destroy the perception of the rule of law than Trump has so far.

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actionfromafar 445 days ago
Going too far in the opposite direction? Even if what you are saying is true, I don't think "breaking the law" and "breaking the law even more" are opposite directions.
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pavlov 445 days ago
You’re free to believe whatever you saw on Fox News, but whataboutism isn’t terribly interesting.
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throwaway173738 445 days ago
In fact it just leaves everyone free to be their absolute worst.
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togetheragainor 445 days ago
It’s interesting because many Europeans would be safer from fascist government overreach in the U.S. than they presently are in Europe, despite what you saw on MSNBC.
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mardifoufs 445 days ago
That's not what whataboutism is. They didn't say what about Europe, they said that the precedent already exists so the argument makes 0 sense.
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