Authoritarianism - THE RIDGEWOOD BLOG.

For some, free speech is only good when they agree with it… otherwise it should be deleted.
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Its one thing to oppose speech with other speech. This is the essence of free speech – an exchange of ideas and opinions – even those you find offensive. Freedom is inherently messy. Authoritarianism is inherently neat, but also repressive.
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Freedom also means including everyone – another basic tenant – even those who are “below the standard”. Some might say that the definition of freedom (speech or otherwise) IS the inclusion of those who are “below the standard”. Let’s not forget that in a free society, “the standard” is a naturally occurring measure which is based on ALL participants. In a repressive society, the standard is arbitrarily set.

Authoritarianism Persists Around the World, But Not Because of an American “Crisis of Confidence”
Jesse Walker|Jan. 24, 2014 11:04 am

Freedom House’s annual report came out this week, and it’s pretty glum. Here’s how the organization’s announcement of its findings begins:

The state of freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2013, according to Freedom in the World 2014, Freedom House’s annual country-by-country report on global political rights and civil liberties.

Particularly notable were developments in Egypt, which endured across-the-board reversals in its democratic institutions following a military coup. There were also serious setbacks to democratic rights in other large, politically influential countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Venezuela, and Indonesia.

The report itself notes that “the overall level of regression was not severe,” with 40 countries getting freer and 54 getting more authoritarian. Freedom House’s list of which countries are “free,” “partly free,” or “not free” hasn’t changed much: The number of countries in the “free” category declined by two, and the numbers in the other categories went up by one apiece. The number of electoral democracies actually increased by four. So while there’s plenty of bad news here, the situation isn’t as dire as that lede suggests.

https://reason.com/blog/2014/01/24/authoritarianism-persists-around-the-wor