1.) Which US computer company has ties to US government? Literally owned by the government?
2.) How is US government authoritarian? Have you actually lived in a country that has no elected representative?
2.) How is US government authoritarian? Have you actually lived in a country that has no elected representative?
2.) In the way that a company can be compelled to comply with an order from the government, including the requirement that the company may not disclose to anyone the nature of that order or the gag order, and that there is effectively no way to challenge such orders in a court of law.
>Have you actually lived in a country that has no elected representative?
Yes. What difference is that supposed to make?
But Lenovo isn't owned by the Chinese government, either.
> 2.) How is US government authoritarian? Have you actually lived in a country that has no elected representative?
The existence of more dictatorial countries doesn't mean the US isn't authoritarian—it is a spectrum rather than a dichotomy.
> Favourable to or characterized by obedience to authority as opposed to personal liberty; strict, dictatorial.
It's certainly reasonable to argue about whether this actually applies; but I don't think that it represents a useless dilution of the word to think that it might. (Well, not 'dictatorial', but the rest of it.)
> It's certainly reasonable to argue about whether this actually applies
literally that it is reasonable to argue, i.e., that neither position is obviously irrefutably true; and also I think I've created enough of a de-rail already here; but, if I had to make an argument for authoritarianism, I think that I would claim that the concept of free-speech zones instantly implies, for some parts of US government at some times, more respect for authority than personal liberty.
"Don't blame me - I voted for Kodos." - Homer J. Simpson.