Im not analyzing anyone anymore . I accept your behavior on a surface level and move on !!

Võ Thị Thắng was released from prison less than 6 years after this picture was taken as part of the Paris Peace accords. The South Vietnamese government fell a couple of years later.

There's a tendency in IR discourse that I've noticed where the fact that many so-called “authoritarian regimes” curtail what is often labelled as the “freedom of speech” of individuals is framed as evidence of some innate illegitimacy, often presented as a desperate gambit to maintain the power of those in control. I think this is a fundamental mistake. So-called “democratic” countries can afford free speech because they exist within a normative hierarchy stabilised by international institutions, the primacy of their economic systems, and, of course, an as yet unchallenged position within the world order. This makes them more resilient to ideological destabilisation, not because of any innate moral superiority of their systems or ideologies, but because they occupy a materially and normatively privileged position within a particular historical context. As the material power of this world order declines, its normative power follows suit, and this is already evident as states long self-styled as bastions of free speech become less willing to tolerate dissent, from the US to Germany, while at the same time states considered repressive begin experimenting with gradually opening space for discourse.

i was abandoned as a baby & raised by a wild pack of cigarettes

they hate us control freaks for making sure everyone else does things the correct way

a lot of people dont care about insect biomass collapse bc when they hear we are losing 2.5% of the insect biomass per year they just imagine the cockroach and housefly population decreasing by that much. they dont realize those are among the only ones that will remain unbothered

people like the idea that there is an identity they can claim that will absolve them of the responsibility to examine their beliefs and actions and adjust them accordingly to better align with their values and desired outcomes but there isn't, we all have to practice humility and do the work regardless