> But to your actual point: we've been a nation that enslaved an entire race, locked up another one because of war, genocided yet another, banned speech against the government, ruined careers of famous scientists and actors because of political affiliations, passed laws against sex acts, shot water cannons and unleashed dogs at protesters, shot others, tore up the shanty towns of veterans, trained our soldiers to be racist so they'd be more effective, classified encryption as munitions, and on and on and on and on.
Yes, and police in US has historically acted to protect the regime and not the citizens regardless of whether the citizen actions were justified and lawful or not. Environmentalists have been dealing with this for decades[1], so it's not something new and probably not getting worse: internet activists' homes could as well have been raided, family members handcuffed and their eyes pepper-sprayed. This is fairly common, unfortunately. The question is what do we do about it?
[1] See the "If a tree falls" documentary for an excellent example.
Yes, and police in US has historically acted to protect the regime and not the citizens regardless of whether the citizen actions were justified and lawful or not. Environmentalists have been dealing with this for decades[1], so it's not something new and probably not getting worse: internet activists' homes could as well have been raided, family members handcuffed and their eyes pepper-sprayed. This is fairly common, unfortunately. The question is what do we do about it?
[1] See the "If a tree falls" documentary for an excellent example.