I don't recall asking, but while we're throwing bona fides around - so am I
> I find the amount of state surveillance in both China and the US to be way beyond what is acceptable.
The fact that both are bad in no way means both are remotely equivalent - far less equivalent than your altitude analogy would imply
> Btw, I don't think you're as reasonable as you think, in not wanting to discuss the kind of hypothetical scenario I'm proposing. It was very common back in the days of the Cold War with people defecting from the USSR to the US, etc.
I'm apparently reasonable enough to recognize the world has changed since the cold war - not least of which China - sufficiently so that it's hardly a reasonable point of comparison
Did I say something to offend you? I'm sorry if I did. Anyway I see you don't really enjoy the conversation. Apologies for that, too.
There may be a difference (I wouldn't call it "inarguable" based only on articles in the Western media, really) but it's more like the difference in falling from 1500 and 1200 feet- not the difference between falling and not falling, say.
Btw, I don't think you're as reasonable as you think, in not wanting to discuss the kind of hypothetical scenario I'm proposing. We could look at cases where exactly what I say has happened. It was very common back in the days of the Cold War with people defecting from the USSR to the US, etc.