Look, I know this is going to be a deeply controversial and unpopular statement to make, and it is based on my observations, rather than significant tangible "evidence", but...
You all know what has been going on in Australia. You know how shit it is. However I thought I would share a... Bit of an anecdote, to support that.
Yesterday I went to a national football (in this case, not the round ball type) finals match, in my home state. I don't want to give too many details, for obvious reasons, but this was in a fairly conservative regional city, so not somewhere I would consider overly "liberal", by Australian standards...
So, here's what went down: to get into the match, we had to "check in" on thr government app. No smartphone to "check in" - no entry. Simple as that. The app allows the government to track you, and to see wherever you have been, outside your house. It uses QR codes, and it's mandated, everywhere here. This is in addition to only allowing pre-purchased tickets. You couldn't buy any at the ground, and, of course, you have to supply your address and confact details when you buy those tix...
You then get patted down, security guards literally CHECK your phone screen to see that you checked in "properly", bags are checked, and then?
Well, we only THEN were told we had to wear a mask. In a state where there hasn't been a single case in the community in 15 months or so, and no deaths in near 18. In this state, there hasn't ever really been a mask mandate at all, and I literally went to the football a few months back, with the pandemic in full swing, with no one even recommended to wear masks, in the same fucking venue...
So yeah... Shit then spiralled from there, and I saw security guards bash a man, and then have the cops drag him out, for not wes Aring his mask, and for "cheering too loud"...
Lots of other bad shit happened, and I videoed some of it, but it warrants a separate post, to go into details...
Suffice to say, after the bashing of the man near me, I was then verbally abused by a cop myself, and decided to give as good as I got straight back. But I wasn't arrested, so there's that. However I did have security guards stand near me to "keep an eye on me" for the rest of the match... Beyond that, though, it scares me to have paid $70 for the privilege of this "bread and circuses" bullshit, only to find the crowd around me so scared of the authorities that they didn't even fucking stop to talk to one another, while standing up, lest they be warned by the police, because that was made illegal within the stadium...
Now, to Russia: this morning I watched the final of the Beach Soccer World Cup, on the TV, live from Moscow.
Now look, I know this is a fairly obscure sport (in the Anglosphere, at least), and a small sample size of sports fans, but... The atmosphere was quite literally the exact opposite of what I experienced the day before. Partying, cheering, Mexican waves, Viking claps, fireworks, (presumably) drinking, and almost NO ONE was wearing a mask. Even the official party weren't.
Families were there. There was music and dancing. People were HAVING FUN. And fans had come from fucking Japan (they were playing vs the hosts), Switzerland, Africa and elsewhere in the world, to watch.
Gianni Infantino (head of FIFA) even "man-hugged" some of the players, and had a photo with them. All smiles.
And you know what the biggest thing was, for me? Everyone there was fucking smiling, and laughing/crying with jubilitation, which is the polar opposite of how Russians are stereotyped, in our media. People looked genuinely happy, and genuinely glad for one another's company...
This is in direct contrast to what I saw, and experienced, in supposedly the currently most "free" state in Aus...
And look, I hate FIFA. I know Russia has its issues, and I know... Things will be different, in the reality outside that stadium. I don't want to go with the line that "Russia is right". But... Seeing all that, and experiencing what I have, it made me realise that, in many ways, at least in terms of COVID restrictions, Russia is more free than Australia. Which is... Bizzare to think of, and also rather scary, when you consider that the media down here goes out of its way to say the exact opposite, especially the so-called "trusted" or "legitimate" media outlets...
Yeah I live on the fringe of those type of suburbs. I haven't had a business or a person mention a mask to me since March I think. The first place I stop in leftist city and there it is. I was planning to go a few different places, figured after that it wasn't worth the trouble. I didn't even have a mask to wear it had gotten so far out of mind.
Mice Utopia was always a thing.
Yeah, the city I went to the game in (regional centre) is much, much less oppressive than the city nearest to where I live (capital city of state. Very liberal. Like Austin or something), but yet... What I described above still happened there. So I can only imagine how bad it would have been if the game had happened in the capital...
We don't seem to have quite the same thing with the suburbs vs cities, here... Though I will say that inner suburbs have been much, much more vocal in their support of lockdowns than outer suburbs, which sounds a bit more like what you describe...
The same patterns exist here. I just don't think they're quite as pronounced, perhaps.
Though Australia in general is much more... Collectivist, and leftist, than the US, like I said in my other comment, so.... Eh, I dunno. Almost anything here is going to be on the extreme end of what you see in even your most liberal states over there. That's the problem... :-/
Give it to me straight: which is worse, the wildlife or the government? I've always heard that your wildlife is almost as bad as China's.
To compare to my personal experience, Australia reminds me of Canada. I generally like Canadians but even more rural places I've been away from the big city areas like eastern BC or New Brunswick, etc. you still get this feel that even though they are not city people there's a very collectivist personality to them. I've lived in the Southern US all my life, and Texas in particular has a very noticeable pride taken in personal independence. Although it's dying fast anywhere near a city due to all the immigration from California, Chicago, and New York. I have zero faith in the independent nature sticking around long term.
Have some faith. Austin just voted to outlaw homeless camping by a 2:1 margin. It was hilarious watching all the leftists on r/Austin seething over how "Austin wasn't as progressive as they thought it was."
Down at the farms the only people wearing masks have been those working for a big chain that required it. And this is since April of 2020. Hell when I was down there back then other than kids being home from school you'd never know anything was different.
Up here it's been mixed. St. Louis County had a Doctor become county exec after the elected official got hauled off by the FBI for taking bribes. So he's been all about masks. Go 5 miles to Franklin or St. Charles County and no masks for most of the past year. So when we went out to eat it was go to St. Charles. And they were packed. Drive across the river to St. Louis County and see all the restaurants closed while things were thriving just a mile or two away. Fortunately this summer when Dr. Page wanted to enact more mask mandates the County Council stepped in and stopped him thanks to a new law in Missouri.
It has been pretty stark the differences just a couple miles make...