[laureny]

> The thing is that the USA remains a prosperous pleasant place to live..as long as you do not challenge authority.

Tens of thousands of Americans question authority on a daily basis and nothing happens to them. America is still a place where your rights and freedoms are respected quite a bit more than other countries.

What do you think would happen if you questioned authority in, say, Venezuela?

[btilly]

There is an important distinction between questioning authority, and challenging it. To give an extreme, it is the difference between commenting on a site like this one that the NSA is a fundamental threat to our freedom, and becoming a whistleblower like Snowden.

In short, if the action in question does not affect the powers that be from operating as they want to operate, there are no consequences from doing it. If the action challenges the powers that be then - no matter how wrong their actions - the consequences are real.

Those in power will respond to challenges. And shrug off questions.

And yes, that is indeed better than many other countries. (Though I personally felt that the rights and freedoms which I cared about were better protected when I lived in Canada.)

[jeltz]

> What do you think would happen if you questioned authority in, say, Venezuela?

I am pretty sure that tens of thousands of Venezuelans question authority too. The difference is that it takes less to make the Venezuelan government feel threatened than it takes in the US.

[PavlovsCat]

Tens of thousands of Americans question authority on a daily basis and nothing happens to them.

Or to said authority, for that matter.