• AItoothbrush@lemmy.zip
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    3 days ago

    Already was. While the us was occupied with cosplaying as freedom freaks and destroying countless democracies for the sake of freedom, europe actually became free.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      2 days ago

      It’s a different idea of freedom. In the US it’s about freedom to X, in the EU it’s freedom from X.

      For example, in the US you have the freedom to say just about anything you want. In the EU you’re free from people making you unsafe by misinformation, lies, etc. In the US you’re free to take pictures of anything you want that can be seen from the street. In Germany you’re free from having pictures of your property posted online without your consent. The result is that Google’s Street View covers everything in the US and almost nothing in Germany. In the US people or companies are free to take public information and hold onto it or publish it as they see fit without interference. In the EU, you’re free from having that information out there forever beyond your control. You’re free to demand that it be deleted under certain circumstances.

      In the end, the European way is more about regulating things. It asks what kinds of things prevent people from living their lives freely and without worries, and tries to regulate those things. The American way is more about removing every regulation and rule possible and saying the end result is freedom so it must be good.

      • potjandorie@feddit.nl
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        1 day ago

        I think it’s more that in Europe there’s freedom for citizens, in the US there’s freedom for corporations.

        • merc@sh.itjust.works
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          1 day ago

          No, there aren’t special rules that give corporations more freedom. Citizens have the same freedoms. The difference is that they’re freedoms that may intrude on other people’s privacy, or on their mental well-being, etc.