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There were people arrested for posts on Facebook during COVID lockdowns. We had police on the ground hassling every person in sight. Multiple friends of mine we

There were people arrested for posts on Facebook during COVID lockdowns. We had police on the ground hassling every person in sight. Multiple friends of mine were fined for taking a momentary pause on their 1 hour of allotted outside time per day. Police were checking whether coffee cups were indeed full of liquid. We had statewide man hunts for people who sneezed in lifts that they were the only one in. Protests against the draconian measures were violently suppressed by the state government. It was one of the most important and impactful government decisions in the history of the country, affecting the lives of every person and dissenting political demonstration was banned. The Federal government passed a law requiring a backdoor for all encrypted communication in the country and the press was completely silent. We ban drawn Japanese porn for some unknown reason while allowing real porn which unambiguously provides greater risk of harm. Prior to internet distribution of video games, many were simply banned for import on the whims of a parental advisory board. Australia is a nation obsessed with prohibition and there's nothing Australians love more than collective moral outrage followed by a cathartic wholesale ban. I'm Australian and whenever I see valid criticism of the country on the internet I soon find an upset Australian replying. They never really refute the underlying point, they'll reply with a non-sequitur or talk about how it doesn't affect their lives. The reality is most Australians don't even feel the noose around their neck because they've never stepped out of line in any way. Most protections on liberty are for extreme and unusual circumstances, you don't notice their absence until it's too late. The vast majority of Chinese people trust their government, and believe the various restrictions on speech and liberty are in the best interests of the nation. Their curbs on liberty are too invasive of course, ours are necessary.

throwawayxxcr 4y ago
We had statewide man hunts for people who sneezed in lifts that they were the only one in Source?
- strangeattractr 4y ago
  https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/covid-positive-fugitive-anthony-karam-knocks-back-offer-of-hotel-quarantine-c-3753227 https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/covid-positi...
  - _carbyau_ 4y ago
    > statewide man hunts for people who sneezed in lifts that they were the only one in This is why we can't have a reasoned discussion. Use of hyperbole to replace actual good reasons. "statewide manhunt" is actually more like a missing persons notice. "sneezing" is actually having COVID. "in lifts that they were the only one in" is actually leaving mandated quarantine to go spread COVID amongst a non-vaccinated society desperately trying to stop exactly that. This is a glorified missing person's notice for someone who was being a dick. At the time, not many people were moving about and many had not much to do so yeah, a lot of people may have seen this news item in some form. But it wasn't a statewide manhunt. EDIT: and instead of reasoned response. A downvote.
    - rfd4sgmk8u 4y ago
      The fact that you can't see such measures as being draconian is kinda the point of this thread. The way that the heavy handed nature of the Australian government approach seems normalized to your average Australian is precisely the normalization of authoritarianism being protested!
      - throwawayxxcr 4y ago
        Here's a summary of US states' quarantine and isolation statutes (since, to many Australians "freedom" means whatever the US does): https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-isolation-statutes.aspx https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-is... Have a look at "freedom-loving" red states like Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama. All seem to be quite "draconian" when it comes to quarantine That eliminates the US. Maybe there's some other country that doesn't have "draconian" quarantine measures?
        strangeattractr 4y ago
        I'm genuinely confused by your point. Are you saying that because other countries have quarantine restrictions, that makes their pandemic approach equivalently restrictive as Australia was? Victoria spent over 250 days in lockdown between March 2020 and October 2021. We had curfews at 6pm for weeks and were allowed out of the house for 1 hour a day and not beyond 5km of our houses. Are you seriously asserting that if the US enacted these restrictions, I would be on here professing that these were the pinnacle of freedom? What I will remark is that US citizens have certain constitutional protections which we do not that in theory inhibit their government's ability to enact restrictions like these i.e. "freedom of movement".

throwawayxxcr 4y ago

We had statewide man hunts for people who sneezed in lifts that they were the only one in Source?

strangeattractr 4y ago
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/covid-positive-fugitive-anthony-karam-knocks-back-offer-of-hotel-quarantine-c-3753227 https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/covid-positi...
- _carbyau_ 4y ago
  > statewide man hunts for people who sneezed in lifts that they were the only one in This is why we can't have a reasoned discussion. Use of hyperbole to replace actual good reasons. "statewide manhunt" is actually more like a missing persons notice. "sneezing" is actually having COVID. "in lifts that they were the only one in" is actually leaving mandated quarantine to go spread COVID amongst a non-vaccinated society desperately trying to stop exactly that. This is a glorified missing person's notice for someone who was being a dick. At the time, not many people were moving about and many had not much to do so yeah, a lot of people may have seen this news item in some form. But it wasn't a statewide manhunt. EDIT: and instead of reasoned response. A downvote.
  - rfd4sgmk8u 4y ago
    The fact that you can't see such measures as being draconian is kinda the point of this thread. The way that the heavy handed nature of the Australian government approach seems normalized to your average Australian is precisely the normalization of authoritarianism being protested!
    - throwawayxxcr 4y ago
      Here's a summary of US states' quarantine and isolation statutes (since, to many Australians "freedom" means whatever the US does): https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-isolation-statutes.aspx https://www.ncsl.org/research/health/state-quarantine-and-is... Have a look at "freedom-loving" red states like Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Mississippi, Georgia, Arkansas and Alabama. All seem to be quite "draconian" when it comes to quarantine That eliminates the US. Maybe there's some other country that doesn't have "draconian" quarantine measures?
      - strangeattractr 4y ago
        I'm genuinely confused by your point. Are you saying that because other countries have quarantine restrictions, that makes their pandemic approach equivalently restrictive as Australia was? Victoria spent over 250 days in lockdown between March 2020 and October 2021. We had curfews at 6pm for weeks and were allowed out of the house for 1 hour a day and not beyond 5km of our houses. Are you seriously asserting that if the US enacted these restrictions, I would be on here professing that these were the pinnacle of freedom? What I will remark is that US citizens have certain constitutional protections which we do not that in theory inhibit their government's ability to enact restrictions like these i.e. "freedom of movement".