Freedom House, an “independent watchdog” has released a study which listed the most free countries in the world.
At least that’s the claim. Others might suggest the report proves something very different. For example, one possible conclusion that could be drawn from the report is that the authors are suffering from deep psychological issues of self-loathing perhaps bordering on Stockholm Syndrome.
Why?
Because the report claims the USA has slipped significantly in the levels of freedom available to its citizens.
Has it? What’s happened in the last 12 months?
Oh, President Trump said some mean words and passed Executive Orders halting immigration from countries with poor anti-terrorism vetting procedures;
The president has also lambasted and threatened the media—including sharp jabs at individual journalists—for challenging his routinely false statements, spoken disdainfully of judges who blocked his decisions, and attacked the professional staff of law enforcement and intelligence agencies. He signals contempt for Muslims and Latin American immigrants and singles out some African Americans for vitriolic criticism. He pardoned a sheriff convicted of ignoring federal court orders to halt racially discriminatory policies and issued an executive order restricting travel to the United States from a group of Muslim-majority countries after making a campaign promise to ban all foreign Muslims from the United States.
Ok, we get that “more than 130 in-house and external analysts and advisers from academia, think tanks, and human rights institutions” didn’t vote Republican in 2016 but has the USA really slipped back to the days of King John’s authoritarian rule?
If only there was an independent data set that showed what the population of the world thought and the subsequent individual choices they were making?
We’ll have to wait for an update to this survey but what’s the likelihood that the results have changed significantly in a year?
By the way, if you look closely, you’ll see Vilfredo Pareto’s observation proven correct again.
Bill’s Opinion
Is there any area of academia and the media in 2018 not tainted with confirmation bias?
The fact that Trump is President and tweets mean things about your friends is not the same thing as a South American dictatorship “disappearing” political opponents and beating the soles of their feet with electrical cable in the basement of the Secret Police building or Putin’s supporters killing journalists.
It just isn’t. Grow up.