[joesmo]

Yes, I agree that the US brand of tyranny is much more clever and doesn't need to suppress things like speech because it realizes that "free speech" is mainly irrelevant and does not threaten its all out rule. Also, having lived under both systems, I agree with the conclusion that most people under Communism, at least the Eastern European kind, did not believe the government B.S. and thus were generally much smarter than the people who believe that B.S. here in the US despite having very few connections to the outside world and unbiased information compared to US citizens.

In the end however, there is no difference and this is more than a fair comparison. Tyranny is tyranny. Being able to buy an iPhone or gab into a megaphone doesn't change a thing.