I'd say that has more to do with societal norms and biases, not political strategy.

From a commoner standpoint, for sure.

This is what you can't say in America - that the "democracy" is not so democratic.

> This is what you can't say in America

Yes you can. You just did. It’s a stupid thing to say, in the same vein as likening the Civil Rights Movement to contemporaneous protests under Diem’s regime in Vietnam or the Cultural Revolution in China. But we have the First Amendment and courts to defend it. It’s not perfect, but it’s miles apart from a full security crackdown.

No, you can't say it because it is heresy and a social faux pas. Additionally, just see what happens when you actually stand up to the American political power - the fates of MLK and Malcolm X, and in more recent times Manning etc.

And on HN, you get massively downvoted so your post disappears.

You’re equating downvotes with getting thrown in jail and exfiltraring conventional military secrets (video from a military aircraft, i.e. Manning) with expressing politically unpopular views in a public, civilian forum. Keep in mind, too, that we actually got civil rights laws passed and enforced, irrespective of what happened to MLK or Malcom X. That isn’t the case in repressive regimes.

Downvotes (or name and shame) is censorship the same way or even worse than governmental censorship because it is socially accepted.

Oh, in that case, I'm all for people getting thrown in jail instead of down-voted when they claim the US is run by a vast conspiracy no better than China.

And I won't accept it, even socially, I promise.

People are been throw in jail, you know? Some of them when they are lucky to not be killed before getting there.