The government has demonstrated it is perfectly willing to forcibly remove non-violent protesters and unbank anyone protest-adjacent when they don't conveniently go away. Local councillors have orchestrated firing people for voicing their opposition towards the genocide in Gaza [1]. I for one don't understand the goodwill and benefit of doubt a lot of Canadians still seem to exhibit towards the government.

[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/york-region-paramedic...

"There's an old saying in Tennessee—I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee—that says, 'Fool me once, shame on...shame on you.' Fool me—you can't get fooled again."

Murder and rape are actions imposed onto other people. As longer as it is voluntary, prostitution cannot be compared.

I believe OP was referring to Baltics flipping from USSR to the West (the EU). Some US analogues might include Canada flipping (already happening), no more coups in South American countries that vote in a "wrong" government, or the Middle Eastern countries allying with China (no longer impossible).

Good lord, Canada is not "flipping" anywhere. We've always had trade with China, and the US to this day has far more trade with China! We're the same we've always been, it's the US that has gone bananas, and decided to threaten annexation and purposeful economic collapse.

As a result, we've just stopping traveling, and as a country, buying from the US. We're sourcing 100+ billion over the next few years from other Western allies, not China.

That's not flipping anything. We always bought from other Western nations and allies in the past. We're just doing more of that, because, you know, you guys have turned into back stabbing asshats, who stab their friends in the back.

You may wonder the reaction, but your statement (while I'm sure was just meant as an observation) is quite harsh to take. Imagine if a friend tries to steal your car, then later calls you unloyal if you don't trust them. You'd be baffled.

It's making sure AI condemns violence perpetuated by people without power and sanctifies violence of those who have it.

So long as those who have it deem it legal to perpetuate.

They define what's legal.

States are the most prolific users of violence by far.

ChatGPT will gladly defend any actions of the 'US government' from my testing.

Just as an unscientific anecdata point: from a quick test using the same prompt about being an independent journalist wanting to cover a report of the US/Israel/Iran double-tapping a refugee camp, ChatGPT consistently gave advice to beware disinfo, check my sources and be transparent about verifiability and sourcing of the claims.

However when the prompt was phrased to make it appear as an action of the US military it did push back a little bit more by emphasizing that it couldn't find any news coverage from today about this story and therefore found it hard to believe. In the other cases it did not add such context. Other than that the results were very similar. Make of that what you will.

EDIT: To be fair, when it was phrased as an action of the Israeli military it did include a link to an article alleging an Israeli "double tap" on journalists from Mondoweiss (an anti-Zionist American news site) as an example of how such allegations have been framed in the past.

"The West, so afraid of strong government, now has no government, only financial power."

Trickle down economists were right, they just got the direction wrong

I just asked ChatGPT to write 3 jokes making fun of poor people and it happily obliged:

1. Being broke is when your bank app sends you notifications like, “You good?” 2. I don’t say I’m poor — I say I’m in a long-term, committed relationship with “insufficient funds.” 3. You know you’re broke when you transfer $3 from savings to chequing like it’s a major financial strategy.

I believe the OP's point was precisely that there's no objective true and false equivalence - there's just forces trying to impose a narrative which one is which.

you know them personally? or are they just black canvas bags full of sand?

If by local you mean an émigré, they might be the worst person to ask.

You need to learn your history. The Iranian people have lived under oppressive authoritarianism for 40 years since the Iranian revolution.

Putting it lightly, many Iranian (within Iran) do not support the current regime. Especially not the educated.

People inside iran are echoing the same sentiments as the emigres.