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Comment by devereaux | Hacker News Reader

And personally if I had to live in either Russia or China, I know which one I'd pick to maximize not just my purchasing power, but also my freedom.

I guess this unpopular yet factual opinion is shocking to some people: I am watching the downvotes pile in with a bag of popcorn.

It's quite weird just after reading the karma whoring article yesterday!! But I stand by my opinion.

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The arrogant "eating popcorn" mockery of people who disagree with you is the purest poison against rational discussion.

> the purest poison against rational discussion

Unrelated to the thread, but I find unmotivated disagreement (expressed with downvotes) also poisonous. I think it would be interesting to allow downvotes only in combination with a "downvote comment" expressing the reason of the disagreement.

Then please stand by your username and explain me, with rational discussion, why you think I'm wrong, and how Russia is so much better.

And FYI it's not a mockery - I'm watching TV and eating, for real. It wasn't a metaphor, but I guess you didn't give me the benefit of doubt.

I'd prefer to live in Switzerland. More economic and social freedom. Neither Russia nor China have too much social or economic freedom so honestly I just think the comparison doesn't make sense. Sure, someone at some point claimed Russia tried liberalism/democracy, but it was a lie, it was never tried. There's less scarcity now that in Soviet times, for sure, but it's still a crony government with no freedom of expression, which is kind of similar to China. However there's way less freedom in China probably.

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