Yikes, very dramatic view. Exactly what OP is referencing.
I would like to think the truly right-wing-- in it's best sense-- attitude would be an appreciation for the ability to openly voice these opinions and the ability for people to openly disagree with you. If you're getting downvoted by individuals for your criticism of a private opera house's policies, that's a win for personal liberties, not an indictment of them.
I don't mean to strawman, but it seems like you're advocating for the exact opposite of what you claim. You want an authority to step in and tell these people downvoting you that they can't have their opinions? You want your viewpoints to have a certain number of mandated agreements?
- When you say you were criticizing HSR and got downvoted for it, is it because you were promoting Elon or Hyperloop in the same post? Were you arguing against public transit? I can't really imagine a good reason to downvote a post just for basic criticism, but I can imagine people seeing something that smells like Elon boosterism and downvoting that. (I don't, personally.)
- Criticizing public school closures without having a solid foundation behind the argument is probably a good way to earn a downvote from people who value human lives over schools staying open. During the early days, COVID was killing a lot of people. You can argue over where we should have struck the balance there, and there's data to support that we did it incorrectly. But people who remember losing loved ones to COVID will naturally get heated over 'we did too much'-type takes so I can understand how you'd catch downvotes for that.
- ID requirements for things with ticketing are pretty boring and commonplace? I can't remember the last time ID wasn't required for a ticketed event I went to, though it's been years now thanks to COVID. So what you've described here - interpreted generously - would have come across as an attempt to complain about vaccination requirements being clumsily masked by throwing in the ID requirement. I don't know the actual tone and content of the post though.
> Am I out of touch? No, it's the progressives who are wrong!
* of voting power
On other matters… not so useful
> Is OP out of touch? Yes, because HN is definitely and absolutely a representative sample of the population and is never wrong!
(I upvoted because the comment isn't unreasonable and doesn't deserve to be greyed out. Indeed, my liberal friends share a number of your concerns. But I do disagree, since as I see it, left-leaning media is largely dead in this country and a WaPo aligned with the Trump administration won't get you any closer to Medicare for all or clean/fusion energy.)
What's the complaint? That private businesses can put more restrictions on visitors than the government can on limiting people's ability to perform their civic duty by exercising a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution?
> Fortunately, I have some Eastern European friends, so I wasn’t banned forever.
What does this mean?
What this really shows is how difficult it is to say anything that goes against what I see as progressive orthodoxy on this site or on internet.
For example, here are things I apparently cannot complain about:
- I support high-speed rail 100%, but I can’t point out that it never actually gets built.
- I can’t criticize the fact that public schools were closed during COVID while private schools remained open.
- I can’t mention that SF Opera required both ID and proof of vaccination to attend a show—while you can vote without an ID. (Yes, I raised this issue with them. Fortunately, I have some Eastern European friends, so I wasn’t banned forever.)
Honestly, I want to be on the left. I’d love to just focus on two things:
- Medicare for all (even if it’s crappy, at least it’s for everyone).
- Massive investment in fusion energy.
But apparently, that’s not enough.
So this is reason why WP needs to change. And the entire Democratic party.