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Americans are not really free. Some have only been “free” less than 100 years.

nozzlegear 2y ago
Can you define "free" as you see it today, without giving me some kind of anti-capitalist rant? > Some have only been “free” less than 100 years. And what about now? Yes, they should've been free from the start. We fought a civil war over this. If you want to hold countries to the standard of the things they've done in the past, then you're ignoring some very big gorillas in the room by pointing your finger at the USA.
- flandish 2y ago
  Your requirement of my definition not being anti-capitalist is tough because it is capitalist to endure some people are not free. Work conditions to for-profit prisons with a “war on drugs” building the prison pop are examples. It is very telling that concern over freedom shows first in your reply as “yeah but capitalism.”
  - nozzlegear 2y ago
    For what it's worth, I agree about for-profit prisons. Working against them is a personal pet project of mine, so I was happy to see Biden terminate federal contracts with for-profit prisons in his first month as President [1]. There's still plenty of them out there, but progress is progress. > It is very telling that concern over freedom shows first in your reply as “yeah but capitalism.” No, I just had a look at your previous comments and recognized a tired pattern one finds repeated ad nauseam by wannabe communists on Reddit. I didn't feel like making a comment that would just get a reply along the lines of "you've activated my anti-capitalism trap card". [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/biden-s-order-terminates-federal-private-prison-contracts-here-s-n1255776 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/biden-s-order-terminates...
    - flandish 2y ago
      Fair points. I’m not on reddit but understand your reticence. I’m an actual community helping (fire/first responding mostly) leftist trying my best. But yeah - I do tend to blame capital on herec(hn) lots because, I’ll be honest, hn is a capitalist mob spawner of sorts. :)

Can you define "free" as you see it today, without giving me some kind of anti-capitalist rant? > Some have only been “free” less than 100 years. And what about now? Yes, they should've been free from the start. We fought a civil war over this. If you want to hold countries to the standard of the things they've done in the past, then you're ignoring some very big gorillas in the room by pointing your finger at the USA.

flandish 2y ago
Your requirement of my definition not being anti-capitalist is tough because it is capitalist to endure some people are not free. Work conditions to for-profit prisons with a “war on drugs” building the prison pop are examples. It is very telling that concern over freedom shows first in your reply as “yeah but capitalism.”
- nozzlegear 2y ago
  For what it's worth, I agree about for-profit prisons. Working against them is a personal pet project of mine, so I was happy to see Biden terminate federal contracts with for-profit prisons in his first month as President [1]. There's still plenty of them out there, but progress is progress. > It is very telling that concern over freedom shows first in your reply as “yeah but capitalism.” No, I just had a look at your previous comments and recognized a tired pattern one finds repeated ad nauseam by wannabe communists on Reddit. I didn't feel like making a comment that would just get a reply along the lines of "you've activated my anti-capitalism trap card". [1] https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/biden-s-order-terminates-federal-private-prison-contracts-here-s-n1255776 https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/biden-s-order-terminates...
  - flandish 2y ago
    Fair points. I’m not on reddit but understand your reticence. I’m an actual community helping (fire/first responding mostly) leftist trying my best. But yeah - I do tend to blame capital on herec(hn) lots because, I’ll be honest, hn is a capitalist mob spawner of sorts. :)