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361 points gloxkiqcza | 5 comments | | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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torginus ◴[] No.45011561[source]
I genuinely do not understand where how the idea of building a total surveillance police state, where all speech is monitored, can even as much as seriously be considered by an allegedly pro-democracy, pro-human rights government, much less make it into law.

Also:

Step 1: Build mass surveillance to prevent the 'bad guys' from coming into political power (its ok, we're the good guys).

Step 2: Your political opponents capitalize on your genuinely horrific overreach, and legitimize themselves in the eyes of the public as fighting against tyranny (unfortunately for you they do have a point). They promise to dismantle the system if coming to power.

Step 3: They get elected.

Step 4: They don't dismantle the system, now the people you planned to use the system against are using it against you.

Sounds brilliant, lets do this.

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specproc ◴[] No.45011763[source]
The West aren't good guys and have never been the good guys. We talked a good talk about democracy when we had communism to compare it to, but without that to contrast with, we look increasingly like the managed democracies you see out East.
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simmerup ◴[] No.45011815[source]
So naive. Talking points from the mouthpieces of the CCP and Russia who would love us to believe we’re all the same
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1. closewith ◴[] No.45012020[source]
No, it's not naive at all. The UK in particular are not the good guys.

Apart from their appalling behaviour during their recent expeditionary wars, their current support of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, their sexual and physical abuse of locals near British Overseas bases, they also have an incredibly poor record with their own citizens.

British behaviour in Northern Ireland was itself genocidal, and involved the regular murder of civilians from decades. Even today they are continuing the legal protection of the perpetrators.

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2. simmerup ◴[] No.45012927[source]
I consider it naive to even start talking about nation states in terms of ‘good guys’
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3. closewith ◴[] No.45013380[source]
Well, all countries are complex collections of people and ideas, so like people, there are no pure good guys.

But we have all been subjected to particularly US propaganda portraying the West as the global good guys, and specproc challenged that worldview in the comment to which you replied. Ironically, you criticised him for being naive as he was challenging the concept of the West as the good guys, something you now call naive yourself.

So it seems you aren't internally consistent.

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4. SV_BubbleTime ◴[] No.45014401{3}[source]
Yes. I don’t know why anyone would point to people with the safest and most economic mobility in history as some sort of success story!
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5. closewith ◴[] No.45014466{4}[source]
> the safest and most economic mobility in history

Do you believe this is the US?