cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22447069
The difference between Russian and American authoritarianism
On the surface it seems like these comparisons are valid, but there’s truly a world of difference in how America deals with its people.
The fact still remains that skilled immigrants can come to America and make a life for themselves. It doesn’t matter who they are. Or that non-white or non-Christians can get elected to the U.S. congress.
America started out with an idealism it’s failing to live up to, and it’s the fault of those who indulge realpolitiks over that idealism. This isn’t an America problem, there’s a rot that’s taken over the soul of humanity. We’re casting aside intellectualism and enlightenment for realpolitiks.
Make no mistake though, people cannot be trusted so you always have to protect yourself. But there’s no civilization without ideals for humanity.
For sure. It’s absolutely valid to criticize the US on all of these points, but when people equate it with what goes on in Russia, it mostly tells me that people don’t fully realize how much worse the situation is in countries like Russia. As someone who was born in an Eastern Bloc country and whose grandparents actually went to jail for their political beliefs, I think it’s good to sometimes remind yourself about how different a life we now thankfully get to enjoy.
America was founded by genocidal slavers who were angry about being unfairly taxed.
America has never been a moral nation. It is literally founded on stolen land, paved over the bodies of that land’s natives, and built by the labor of the enslaved.
I would agree that America is not the only nation in the world with many of these problems. I’m an anarchist, so I fundamentally don’t really believe that a completely moral state is ever possible. But even so America stands out particularly starkly even in comparison to other contemporary states.
I think your point is valid, but what I am saying is we shouldn’t begrudge the past its lack of perfection. Let’s look at where people are now, and where they can go from here.
Looking for answers in the past is often a fools errand. We need to shed the baggage of our forefathers.
You know, there’s a story from one of Rousseau’s that I’ve read before that goes a little like this:
After hoarding a bunch of ressources from the people, the rich started to get resistance from the peasants, and their property was in jeopardy. So they just said something along the lines of: "Isn’t it awful that we are fighting each other? Let’s make sure that we make laws so that everyone’s property is protected, and a power to enforce these law ". The peasants then started to cling to what little property they had, and justified the rich’s property. Never mind the torturous work they went through, the starvation, the poverty, it would be wrong to steal from someone. How would you feel if somebody stole from you. This is easy to think when you just “move on from the past”.
Black people still didn’t get compensation for slavery. Indigenous people got everything stolen from them, and didn’t receive any form of compensation. Marginalized people are still affected by stuff like systematic racism and capitalism. America benefits from its past imperialism, and present one (Israel)
Perfect is always the enemy of the good, we can’t fault people who’ve been dead and buried for centuries for their lack of understanding when we right now are incapable of it ourselves.
I get what you’re saying about trust, but it takes just one to backstab you even if there are a million chill people. On a nation state level, that can have serious consequences.
Great point. America is a perfect example of human brain rot and ignorance, but it’s worldwide.
