Will Dictatorships of the World be Toppled?

[Republic of Coldwater]

Wait so if people admire Premier Xi and Hu Jintao, then China is effectively not a dictatorship, when Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and all sorts of social media outlets are banned, where organized religion is severely curtailed or outright banned, where the government monitors all your internet traffic, where many are executed and wrongly persecuted, tell me how the hell it isn't a dictatorship.

The USA punishes you for sharing music and movies with friends online, the USA sends you to jail for several years for stealing slices of pizza, and the USA has one of the world's highest prison populations (not to mention we invade nations that never attacked us). Here are more cases of harsh punishments in the USA. Perhaps it is also a dictatorship:

http://www.alternet.org/story/156061/li ... punishment

Here are some ridiculous laws which prove the US govt. oppresses the people (even if the law is rarely enforced, it could be sued against you if a judge and a cop have a grudge against you or they want to be jerks). This is Alabama but every state has to many laws:

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/alabama

I agree that currently, the US is a tyrannical police state, but a police state isn't necessarily a dictatorship, it is just a precursor to it. A dictatorship is a country run by a dictator, and according to the dictionary, a dictator is a "ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained power by force.", which is exactly what China is, it is run by Xi Jingping, who has full power over the nation, while America does have three branches, along with 50 states who spread out the power and effectively create a decentralized country (if done right), but America is definitely looming close to a Dictatorship at the rate of growth pertaining to the size and scope of the government.

[Alyakia]

The USA punishes you for sharing music and movies with friends online, the USA sends you to jail for several years for stealing slices of pizza, and the USA has one of the world's highest prison populations (not to mention we invade nations that never attacked us). Here are more cases of harsh punishments in the USA. Perhaps it is also a dictatorship:

http://www.alternet.org/story/156061/li ... punishment

Here are some ridiculous laws which prove the US govt. oppresses the people (even if the law is rarely enforced, it could be sued against you if a judge and a cop have a grudge against you or they want to be jerks). This is Alabama but every state has to many laws:

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/alabama

I agree that currently, the US is a tyrannical police state, but a police state isn't necessarily a dictatorship, it is just a precursor to it. A dictatorship is a country run by a dictator, and according to the dictionary, a dictator is a "ruler with total power over a country, typically one who has obtained power by force.", which is exactly what China is, it is run by Xi Jingping, who has full power over the nation, while America does have three branches, along with 50 states who spread out the power and effectively create a decentralized country (if done right), but America is definitely looming close to a Dictatorship at the rate of growth pertaining to the size and scope of the government.

Bear wrestling matches are prohibited.
It is illegal to impersonate a person of the clergy.
It is illegal to maim oneself to escape duty.

some of the laws are dumb but i must say they did a really really bad opening.

[Murkwood]

Wait so if people admire Premier Xi and Hu Jintao, then China is effectively not a dictatorship, when Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and all sorts of social media outlets are banned, where organized religion is severely curtailed or outright banned, where the government monitors all your internet traffic, where many are executed and wrongly persecuted, tell me how the hell it isn't a dictatorship.

The USA punishes you for sharing music and movies with friends online, the USA sends you to jail for several years for stealing slices of pizza, and the USA has one of the world's highest prison populations (not to mention we invade nations that never attacked us). Here are more cases of harsh punishments in the USA. Perhaps it is also a dictatorship:

http://www.alternet.org/story/156061/li ... punishment

Here are some ridiculous laws which prove the US govt. oppresses the people (even if the law is rarely enforced, it could be sued against you if a judge and a cop have a grudge against you or they want to be jerks). This is Alabama but every state has to many laws:

http://www.dumblaws.com/laws/united-states/alabama

1984's Law: Any country that you can call a dictatorship while living in that country and not suffer any repercussions probably isn't one.

[The Greater Aryan Race]

Singapore anyone?

Yes we're obviously oppressed by the evil Lee family which is a secret front staffed by the Illuminati/Rotschild/NWO/lizard men what-have-you-not cabal. We're just begging and crying out for foreign intervention here.

[Distruzio]

Here's hoping they aren't toppled. As much as I may dislike dictators I don't want to see any bloody revolutions. Peaceful transitions are the best way to ameliorate dictatorial regimes. Transitions nurtured by international political pressure while avoiding economic sanctions - after all, why punish the people more than they already suffer?

[Monkeykind]

Uh, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_po ... _Singapore

Singapore has many political parties, but only one that matters.

There are two major political parties in Singapore.

[The Greater Aryan Race]

Singapore has many political parties, but only one that matters.

There are two major political parties in Singapore.

In terms of voter support, yes there are two major political parties. Although frankly, the Worker's Party isn't exactly a "major" political party considering it only has seven parliamentary seats.

But really, when it comes down to the wire, a majority still opt for the incumbent People's Action Party.

[United Marxist Nations]

Here's hoping they [i]aren't[i] toppled. As much as I may dislike dictators I don't want to see any bloody revolutions. Peaceful transitions are the best way to ameliorate dictatorial regimes. Transitions nurtured by international political pressure while avoiding economic sanctions - after all, why punish the people more than they already suffer?

How many times has that happened again? At the very least, the threat of violence is needed.

[Distruzio]

Here's hoping they [i]aren't[i] toppled. As much as I may dislike dictators I don't want to see any bloody revolutions. Peaceful transitions are the best way to ameliorate dictatorial regimes. Transitions nurtured by international political pressure while avoiding economic sanctions - after all, why punish the people more than they already suffer?

How many times has that happened again? At the very least, the threat of violence is needed.

The frequency is no good reason to hope violent revolution happens.

[United Marxist Nations]

How many times has that happened again? At the very least, the threat of violence is needed.

The frequency is no good reason to hope violent revolution happens.

Yes it is, because the alternative is just to do jack shit and stay a dictatorship until something happens, but that could take an extremely long time.

[Distruzio]

The frequency is no good reason to hope violent revolution happens.

Yes it is, because the alternative is just to do jack shit and stay a dictatorship until something happens, but that could take an extremely long time.

.... you do understand that people suffer and die amidst a violent revolution, right?

[United Marxist Nations]

Yes it is, because the alternative is just to do jack shit and stay a dictatorship until something happens, but that could take an extremely long time.

.... you do understand that people suffer and die amidst a violent revolution, right?

Far less so than under an oppressive dictatorship and for a shorter amount of time. For a more eloquent summarization:

"There were two 'Reigns of Terror', if we could but remember and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million; but our shudders are all for the "horrors of the... momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror - that unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves."

Mark Twain, writing about the French Revolution,
in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

[Monkeykind]

There are two major political parties in Singapore.

In terms of voter support, yes there are two major political parties. Although frankly, the Worker's Party isn't exactly a "major" political party considering it only has seven parliamentary seats.

But really, when it comes down to the wire, a majority still opt for the incumbent People's Action Party.

You mean 6.

[Murkwood]

Singapore has many political parties, but only one that matters.

There are two major political parties in Singapore.

Seven seats isn't "major"

[Distruzio]

.... you do understand that people suffer and die amidst a violent revolution, right?

Far less so than under an oppressive dictatorship and for a shorter amount of time. For a more eloquent summarization:

"There were two 'Reigns of Terror', if we could but remember and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million; but our shudders are all for the "horrors of the... momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror - that unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves."

Mark Twain, writing about the French Revolution,
in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Beyond the obvious appeal to emotion, the reality is that these "revolutions" are indeed terrible. Twain, and you by correlation, assumed that the terror and tragedy of the Reign of Terror were justified because of some abstract appeal to the deaths of people generations past as though their deaths hold any real weight amidst the contemporary concern of bloody revolution. You know full well that violent reprisal against authoritarian regimes is hardly the only option available or necessary. In short, a relatively short burst of murders is not an appropriate response to perceived generations of authoritarian rule.

[Mike the Progressive]

Not until somebody does something about it.

[Monkeykind]

There are two major political parties in Singapore.

Seven seats isn't "major"

It's six seats.

[United Marxist Nations]

Far less so than under an oppressive dictatorship and for a shorter amount of time. For a more eloquent summarization:

"There were two 'Reigns of Terror', if we could but remember and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passions, the other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon a thousand persons, the other upon a hundred million; but our shudders are all for the "horrors of the... momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror of swift death by the axe compared with lifelong death from hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by that brief terror that we have all been so diligently taught to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror - that unspeakable bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves."

Mark Twain, writing about the French Revolution,
in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

Beyond the obvious appeal to emotion, the reality is that these "revolutions" are indeed terrible. Twain, and you by correlation, assumed that the terror and tragedy of the Reign of Terror were justified because of some abstract appeal to the deaths of people generations past as though their deaths hold any real weight amidst the contemporary concern of bloody revolution. You know full well that violent reprisal against authoritarian regimes is hardly the only option available or necessary. In short, a relatively short burst of murders is not an appropriate response to perceived generations of authoritarian rule.

You clearly didn't understand the point I was making. If the dictatorship remains in power, than more people will continue to suffer as a result of it.

EDIT: Also, tell us of these other methods of ending the authoritarian rule?

[Distruzio]

Beyond the obvious appeal to emotion, the reality is that these "revolutions" are indeed terrible. Twain, and you by correlation, assumed that the terror and tragedy of the Reign of Terror were justified because of some abstract appeal to the deaths of people generations past as though their deaths hold any real weight amidst the contemporary concern of bloody revolution. You know full well that violent reprisal against authoritarian regimes is hardly the only option available or necessary. In short, a relatively short burst of murders is not an appropriate response to perceived generations of authoritarian rule.

You clearly didn't understand the point I was making. If the dictatorship remains in power, than more people will continue to suffer as a result of it.

I understood. I rejected it as bad logic.

[Riuchen]

Dependss

[United Marxist Nations]

You clearly didn't understand the point I was making. If the dictatorship remains in power, than more people will continue to suffer as a result of it.

I understood. I rejected it as bad logic.

Which you do incorrectly, as historical examples show that when ruthless dictatorships are in power, people tend to be under them until the dictatorship is removed.

[Alyakia]

I understood. I rejected it as bad logic.

Which you do incorrectly, as historical examples show that when ruthless dictatorships are in power, people tend to be under them until the dictatorship is removed.

is it bad if i can't make out what this post actually means? history shows that dictatorships are in power until they are removed. yes. that would make a lot of sense.

[United Marxist Nations]

Which you do incorrectly, as historical examples show that when ruthless dictatorships are in power, people tend to be under them until the dictatorship is removed.

is it bad if i can't make out what this post actually means? history shows that dictatorships are in power until they are removed. yes. that would make a lot of sense.

Yeah, that's what I mean; Distruzio seems to think that things are just fine under repressive dictatorships, and that people won't continue to be repressed under them.

[Nervium]

Russia is more of a hybrid regime than an actual dictatorship.

Maybe Iran?

[Nervium]

Seven seats isn't "major"

It's six seats.

Velvet seats?