Because in China there can be serious consequences to holding and advocating for ideas that are out of favor with government. In the USA, even with all the mon

Because in China there can be serious consequences to holding and advocating for ideas that are out of favor with government. In the USA, even with all the monitoring you can still hold and advocate for ideas that are very much out of favor of those in government without serious reprisal. Note that "Terrorism" is a very convenient word in politics as it allows just about anyone to be labeled as such. I suspect my definition is very different than the Chinese definition. To be fair about the data collection efforts in the USA, something that I very much oppose as an affront to the individual rights of its citizens, I suspect that those efforts are nonetheless almost always conducted very much for proper purposes of protecting national security and the lives/property of its citizens... rather than to ensure government entrenchment in spite of its citizens. Where the NSA and like agencies go wrong is in assuming ends justify means. They don't. And of course the possibility of misuse of these methods to be used against citizen rights rather than to protect them.