[diminoten]

> We already have indefinite detentions, torture, secret laws with secret interpretations, and state-sanctioned kidnappings.

And have had them for many many years. Nothing new. We committed a genocide against a people in the 1900s, and enslaved another people in the 1800s, both of which I think are much worse things to do to people than where we are now. If you chart the kinds of freedoms people living in the US have throughout the US's existence, would you really try to say the average person is less free today? Obviously we're not done working on being better at that, and absolutely we slip, but I'm so sick and tired of this attitude that we're moving into a totalitarian state, when we only in the last 100ish years LEFT what amounted to one.

And a small point of order but obviously no, my perception isn't any more valid than yours, but there is an objective perception, and if your perception is not aligned with that objective flagpost, then yes, your perception is a lie.

[ferrouswheel]

If you know anything about neurology or psychology, you'll know that there is no "objective perception". There is science, but that's about repeatability, and the complexity of geopolitics makes situations difficult to reproduce in exactitude. We make assessment based on different sets of experiences and knowledge, and our perception is influenced by our past and present.

No two people have the same life experience.

The very rawest form of perceptual subjectivity can be demonstrated by the interference of vision and sound caused by the McGurk effect. Search youtube for an example.