1y ago

I feel the actual inflation

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Political prisoners like Leonard Peltier, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Fred Burton, “Xinachitli” Alvaro Hernandez, Reverend Joy Powell, Ghassan Elashi, Mufid Abdulqader and Shukri Abu-Baker, Eric King, Daniel Hale, Alex Saab, Ed Poindexter, Veronza Bowers, Jessica Reznicek, Emmanuel Quinones, or any of the hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers illegally detained at the border and held in concentration camps every year? Or lest we forget Edward Snowden, who fled the nation to avoid becoming a political prisoner, or Chelsea Manning who spent 7 years as a political prisoner, or Julian Assange of course?
Look, I’m not defending political prisoners, I’m calling out your random talk of gulag as what it is, a lack of reflection on the most heavily criminalized and incarcerated society in known history and a rabid reactionary whataboutism when faced with the inherent injustice the system we currently have represents.
- You couldn't list off the political prisoners of communist regimes in a month if you never stopped typing. And yes, I got your point. It was whataboutism. You want to talk about overuse of prisons in the US, you can, but the US doesn't lock up people because they disagree with the government. Every communist regime has. Brutal authoritarianism is a defining feature of communism.
  
  They literally do. They manufacture crimes with no witnesses nor evidence against prominent dissidents and imprison them for life.
  
  Whatever lies you need to tell yourself, kiddo
  
  Me: provides a list of political prisoners in the US
  You: ThE uS dOeSnT hAvE pOlItIcAl PrIsOnErS.
  The whataboutism is YOURS. You brought up gulags. I only asked you why the US has the highest population of prisoners in the history of humanity.
  
  Taking the first person on that list, he was convicted of murder. If you think he didn't do it, okay, and he denies it, but he has had his applications for clemency, appeals, and a jury trial to press his case. He's not a political prisoner, he's a convicted murderer. Whether you think he's guilty or not. Dead people aren't invented. That's not a "made up crime."
  This is one reason why I have a hard time talking to people like you. You assume a conclusion and deny even the possibility that someone convicted of murder may have done it, then draw a conspiracy about political motives for imprisonment.
  Okay, kid. Here's an experiment for you. You say the US locks up political prisoners and is worse than communist nations. Go to the street right outside the White House and hold a sign with your favorite criticism of Joe Biden. Then, go fly to China and go interview people in Tianenmen Square about what precisely happened there in 1989. See what happens.
  I only asked you why the US has the highest population of prisoners in the history of humanity.
  Jfc. Make an honest fucking argument. You and I could talk about how to reduce the prison population here, but the fact is that however flawed the US justice system is, it is punishing people for crimes, not political thought or agitation. You and I may think some sentences are excessive, or some crimes shouldn't be crimes, or sentences should be committed.
  But the Chinese government will lock you up in prison if you disagree with the ruling party. Here, the opposition has multiple fucking TV networks with seats in the White House press room. Fucking clown show.
  
  There is definitive evidence in Peltier’s case that the witnesses were coerced by the FBI, which makes their testimony inadmissible, yet the white supremacist judge still allowed it to be entered and used against him. There’s no evidence, just manufactured consent to placate tubes like you with no critical thinking skills.
  I have already been threatened by the government for my ENTIRELY PEACEFUL speech, because they don’t like when you stand on the corner with signs that have the names of murderous police officers. Told that if I continued doing what I did, I’d be put “in the ground.” Totally normal behavior for a non-totalitarian police force.
  
  His lawyers have had lots of time to make that argument in court. I'm not in jail because I haven't gotten into a shootout with the FBI. And I note that you're still here, in our imperfect country, ignoring my entire point and trying to pretend that you don't have free speech. Yet, still speaking.

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