"But still... it's frightening. The chilling effects are real."
I don't know... I think if you look at the big picture, this looks more like government shooting itself in the foot, than anything. Both the absurd sentence for DPR, and then this over-the-top reaction to idiot comments, cannot but reduce government legitimacy (or what passes for it) in the eyes of the people. Such actions do not come without costs. When governments lose all legitimacy, they soon cease to exist. It is their life-blood, yet here they are pissing it away.
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Chilling?
"But still... it's frightening. The chilling effects are real."
I don't know... I think if you look at the big picture, this looks more like government shooting itself in the foot, than anything. Both the absurd sentence for DPR, and then this over-the-top reaction to idiot comments, cannot but reduce government legitimacy (or what passes for it) in the eyes of the people. Such actions do not come without costs. When governments lose all legitimacy, they soon cease to exist. It is their life-blood, yet here they are pissing it away.