Literally all the thought police stuff in socialist states is bullshit. You absolutely could dissent in the privacy of your home. It's when you started organizing and publicly attacking the socialist state that it became illegal like it is in every other country. You cannot legally organize towards the overthrow of the United States. I don't even think you can legally advocate it and I know you couldn't for a long time (see HUAC).
Except not really - the thought police is a real thing. While not literally thought police, and not as wide reaching, as sometimes people make it out to Bez it still was a terrifying and oppressive thing. There were plenty of informants and your neighbors would snitch on you too should they suspect you're doing something like thinking bad things about the gensec, or listening to western propaganda on the radio. And this thing about the privacy of your home means that you can't talk about it with your guests even. Hell, at some points of time and places watching western movies could get you a visit from the cops.
Literally all the thought police stuff in socialist states is bullshit. You absolutely could dissent in the privacy of your home. It's when you started organizing and publicly attacking the socialist state that it became illegal like it is in every other country. You cannot legally organize towards the overthrow of the United States. I don't even think you can legally advocate it and I know you couldn't for a long time (see HUAC).
Except not really - the thought police is a real thing. While not literally thought police, and not as wide reaching, as sometimes people make it out to Bez it still was a terrifying and oppressive thing. There were plenty of informants and your neighbors would snitch on you too should they suspect you're doing something like thinking bad things about the gensec, or listening to western propaganda on the radio. And this thing about the privacy of your home means that you can't talk about it with your guests even. Hell, at some points of time and places watching western movies could get you a visit from the cops.