&gt; political dissent is correlated to violence<p>In some important ways, this is already a non-sequitur.<p>First, let&#x27;s stipulate that dissent <i>is</i> positively correlated to violence, although I don&#x27;t know how exactly you&#x27;d measure that.  I suspect that, for reasonable measurements, it&#x27;s not and that in fact it&#x27;s negatively correlated.  But let&#x27;s stipulate.<p>To use the example of the current political configuration of the United States: the government is ruthlessly violent, not only within its borders but around the world.<p>So, which is more strongly &quot;correlated&quot; to violence, <i>support</i> for the government or <i>dissent</i>?  If you hobnob with government officials, does this make you more closely connected to violence than if you associate with dissenters?