I'm actually getting afraid to express my beliefs publicly. Never felt this way as an American before
I am feeling actually scared to hold any leftist or progressive beliefs. I never felt this way so much in the United States until now. People would give you shit sure and you wouldn't take about it at work or polite company, but I was never scared of violence or legal repercussions for my political beliefs until now.
This regime and its various goon squads have expressed clearly that leftist or progressive beliefs even basic stances on human rights are NOT acceptable, and you can even be punished, hurt or killed for holding those political beliefs. It's very scary and screams authoritarian regime.
Should I be censoring myself now? Do I have to worry about targeted surveillance? My voting records are already accessible, so are social media posts expressing support for progressive politics. Now I'm terrified that they have some kind of profile on me and if I don't shut up I could be disappeared eventually too. I never actually worried about what I said so much, to the point that I am scared to discuss politics anywhere, ever, even in private with friends and allies.
And to these people, being LGTBQIA+ and being leftist are basically the same, so even my loved ones who are gay, nonbinary etc could be proclaimed to be terrorists or criminals next.
I'm very very scared, I feel like I have to fake my identity and censor myself everywhere. Am I just paranoid? I don't think so.
Dude, that sucks - you shouldn't have to be afraid to speak up!