Is 4chan the perfect Pirate Bay poster child to justify wider UK site-blocking?

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.

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.

What people don't get is the defining feature of the West (or more correctly advanced societies) isn't democracy, it's rule of law.

- It's why you don't have to fear getting put on a show trial if you piss off the wrong people or they just want your stuff

- It's why the rich (and not so rich) are safe storing their wealth there, knowing the bank won't collapse tomorrow, or they won't confiscate their wealth on a whim.

- It's why you know the water's safe to drink and the food's safe to eat

- It's why you can produce steel good enough so that your buildings don't collapse, and others will buy your cars know they won't fall apart, due to being relying on a shady subcontractor.

- It's why people are willing to pay taxes, knowing they get functioning public services.

Places like China are finding out why you need these things, and are building these systems so their society can succeed.

Democracy's just an (Western) artifact of enforcing and maintaining rule of law.

> It's why you don't have to fear getting put on a show trial if you piss off the wrong people or they just want your stuff

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Scott_(criminal)

> It's why the rich (and not so rich) are safe storing their wealth there, knowing the bank won't collapse tomorrow, or they won't confiscate their wealth on a whim.

https://troymedia.com/lifestyle/your-money/debanking-is-otta... https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/a...

> It's why you know the water's safe to drink and the food's safe to eat

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint,_Michigan

> It's why you can produce steel good enough so that your buildings don't collapse, and others will buy your cars know they won't fall apart, due to being relying on a shady subcontractor.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_steel_pro...

> It's why people are willing to pay taxes, knowing they get functioning public services.

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/22/tax-evasion-by-wealthiest-am...

I mean, I get that it could be worse, but...

Yeah the comment you're replying to feels very insulated from the real world. It's the kind of thing you'd hear in a middle school social studies class about how great America is.