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This is voluntary. At least in the US, there is nowhere near enough police (including every last sworn officer and every single military member, police or not)
by rootusrootus 7y ago
This is voluntary. At least in the US, there is nowhere near enough police (including every last sworn officer and every single military member, police or not) to force people to stay at home. They are extremely outnumbered, both by population and by weaponry. Imagining this leading to an authoritarian state is fearmongering.
- SpicyLemonZest 7y agoMultiple of my college buddies, who I know to otherwise be reasonable people, are calling for martial law so people will be forced at gunpoint to stay home for months. I agree that an authoritarian state is a low probability outcome, but the mechanism by which it remains low probability is people making it clear that we won't stand for it.
- rootusrootus 7y agoI agree, there are definitely some people panicking and advocating for completely disproportionate responses to the pandemic. I see it in my own circle, I see it on HN. Hopefully we can do enough to dampen the death count so that people don't freak out any further.
- clairity 7y agono authoritarian state has ever had enough police and military to come close to outnumbering the citizenry. numerical equivalency is not a necessary condition for the exertion of power and coercion. we must remain vigilant in protecting our rights and maintaining the dispersion of power while we get through this pandemic. part of that is keeping fear responses in check by putting our rational powers to use discerning facts, accepting uncertainty, rejecting falsehoods, and collectively yielding the time needed to compile valuable information, rather than getting frothed up by the frenzy.