[xenotux]

The main difference between democracies and secular autocracies isn't that they have a vastly different approach to run-of-the-mill moral vices, such as prostitution or porn. It's that democracies tolerate a much wider spectrum of political opinions in public discourse and don't kill or imprison people who try to start an opposition party.

I think we can agree that the UK is moving in the wrong direction without drawing parallels to a place where dissidents are disappeared, both off the internet and in real life.

[tacticus]

Anti olympic posters got police raids. Plasticine action on your tshirt got arrests.

[Guthur]

What so especially ironic is the posters views comes from the narrative control the UK is so disparate to get control of.

Any notion that the UK is actually run by the people is nonsensical, the so called democracy is pure and utter theatre.

[Nursie]

> Plasticine action on your tshirt got arrests.

And then released when the mistake came to light. Not 'disappeared'.

The whole mess around the proscribed group is awful and seems like a massive overreaction - sure, you do not mess with a country's defence infrastructure. But the appropriate thing to do is arrest those involved and charge them with specific crimes, not misuse anti-terror legislation.

But lets not pretend people are being taken off the streets and made to disappear as they do in autocratic nations.

[KoolKat23]

A lot of UK institutions are run on "norms" with no actual law placing legal check and balance in place.

This is also why it's so crucial for the UK not to let bad laws pass.

[MangoToupe]

> It's that democracies tolerate a much wider spectrum of political opinions in public discourse and don't kill or imprison people who try to start an opposition party.

I'm not entirely sure this is true. At least in the west, this perspective seemed to rely on most "public discourse" not being visible to most of the public. Social media has destroyed this illusion.

[engineeringwoke]

> democracies tolerate a much wider spectrum of political opinions in public discourse

> UK

...