I find it quite rich when people who have only ever lived in democracies condescend to those living in dictatorships about how we should have simply "protested harder" against the status quo.

I'm sorry Mr. Virtue Signaler safe in SF or NYC, but if my choices are shutting up temporarily in exchange for my and my family's continued security, versus "speaking truth to power" (or some other such drivel) and waking up in a black site the next day, I know which one I'm taking.