Grerkol

testing whether the testee understands their nation, its values, and the democratic principles it is founded on

It seems like you only want people with certain "values" to be able to vote. What even are a nation's "values" anyway? Most of the time I hear that it's just vague nationalist propaganda about how our nation and our people are wonderful. I will admit that's a bit of a specific nitpick though.

As for "the structure of government and the content of the constitution", I honestly don't think the details of how laws are passed or how many seats are in congress, etc, matter much when it comes to deciding which policies you support and which party you'll vote for.

By their very nature, laws like this exclude people who are less educated and have less free time and/or motivation to study for your test. These are almost always going to be also the most disadvantaged and poorly treated people in society.

Please explain

Sounds like what chuds think the world is already like

That's a quite reasonable response, but I will say that no actual revolution is likely gonna not involve a lot of violence. And yeah... protests are almost always gonna come at the very least with the threat of violence (for a reason). Plus, figures who do something violent that many see as ultimately justified can create awareness that could lead to more pressure on elites.

I just don't think it's productive to condemn violence in general. I don't think violence not done by the state is in itself bad. Obviously a lone wolf going after random people they think deserve it isn't gonna directly enact real change, but going on about how peaceful you are seems counterproductive.

Mass mobilisation and vigilante justice aren't mutually exclusive, and I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing.

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That sounds nice but I don't think that's exactly the case in practice. There are often people who the state defends at the expense of others, who will never realistically receive any kind of justice from the state. I think things are also generally much better when these people are scared.

I'm not trying to advocate for violence against anyone specific but sometimes I think it's best when people stand up for themselves (and the people) to show that they're willing to enact some kind of justice in a corrupt system. Thinking of vigilantes in general as immoral and barbaric while thinking "democracy" alone can help you just plays into the hands of those who wish to exploit you imo.

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Provide security for whom?

I heckin' love the state's monopoly on violence!

Bruh when did I say "we need to be like the Chinese party-state because they have freedom of expression and information"?

I'm trying to say that this Article 19 group has no real principles beyond: "UK government protecting our 'information integrity'=good. Chinese censorship and 'misinformation'=bad." Also it's not even "Chinese media ownership", it's a US firm with a chairman who has ties to China.

But if you can't follow this beyond "this guy clearly loves China and hates Britain, I need to explain why China is worse", then go off I guess.

This article is so strange to me. Do these guys want "media plurality" and "freedom of expression and information" or to stop people with links to China from owning UK news outlets? On the one hand they're talking about this ideal of freedom of press and on another it's about how we need to restrict who can control the press. "Information integrity" sounds like justification for censorship to me.

It's so full of vague, conflicting ideals.

The idea of laws about transparency of ownership and funding seems reasonable I suppose. It's good media literacy to find out what you can about who owns and funds a news outlet. That's why I looked into who's behind this "Article 19" organisation.

https://www.article19.org/financials/

Ah... The UK and US governments, along with the infamous "National Endowment for Democracy". Seems it's bad when China tries to control the narrative, but not the UK or US.

As for whether I personally think this US firm that has some links to China should be allowed to buy the Telegraph, I don't care much either way, as long as I can access the media I want to and look up who owns it. It does seem like they're trying to set a precedent for blocking foreign outlets they don't like though.