Authority can have checks and balances. Authoritarianism by definition seeks to exceed and remove checks and balances.
The actual definition of authoritarian is "favouring or enforcing strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom."
You are correct in saying that it does not matter what system authoritarianism is attached to.
are you suggesting koreans can't be racist against the japanese because they're both asian?
good work picking up that it may have been an opportunity to meet people, now you'll have an idea what to be aware of next time. try not to.overthink it.
I'd agree with this, you don't necessarily even need to ask to join the conversation though they wouldn't appreciate you taking it over. adding to what they are saying and join the conversation the same way you merge lanes in a car. match speed / context, and give them plenty of space to keep going as they were. watch for signs they don't appreciate the interruption though, shared looks between them, annoyed expression, short answers, turning away from you etc. if they're annoyed, no big deal, bow out of the conversation as gracefully as you can, apologise if they actually say the interuprion is unwanted or anything
lemmy and reddit are great places to learn about debate, but their systems are not set upnto foster genuine debate. if you want to see real debate, with threats, strawmen, logical fallacies, trolls and street rules you're in the right place.
OP is just asking for some help taking the wool away from over their eyes so they can see the truth behind the strawmen, anecdotes, fallacies and misdirection.