I think you're equating people not speaking out, and being silenced, as being the same as them agreeing with how things are run. The layperson doesn't have room

I think you're equating people not speaking out, and being silenced, as being the same as them agreeing with how things are run. The layperson doesn't have room or a voice to be able to question and doubt government policy. They can't show if they are upset because of the surveillance policy. Hong Kong is a great example of what happens when people living in a surveillance society speak out. The Hong Kong people have been silence, as have the people in Taiwan. They aren't happy to be ruled by China. There's nothing democratic about what happened there. I didn't make generalizations, I gave you concrete examples. I also just pointed out the poor conclusions you are jumping to. I apologize if that felt personally, that was not my intention at all. Having a strong surveillance policy makes the layperson feel worse about the society they live in, I urge you to read 1984 by George Orwell if you haven't. The nationalism in China has its roots in how the government propaganda painted themselves and the Chinese people compared with "outsiders". It is a direct consequence of historical events and culture. It is not a new thing that came forward with the advent of technology and a feeling of security due to living in a surveillance state. The West isn't okay with neither the government nor corporations taking our data. Overall the west still has some of the best civil rights protections, due to the rights being codified in law. Facebook is being tried in court in multiple countries. Zuckerburg is going to be deposed in court due to Facebook's relationship to the privacy violations by Cambridge Analytica. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-20/zuckerberg-sandberg-to-be-questioned-in-facebook-privacy-suit https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-07-20/zuckerber... I don't believe good faith discussions include considering stripping of the basic human right to privacy. It's not a binary choice between the government having that information vs corporations having it. For a while the layperson in the west didn't know it was happening. But now we're seeing the consequences of what will happen now that they do. China doesn't give people that same kind of choice on the right to privacy. Saying the average Chinese citizen doesn't care is a generalization without any backing. Silence isn't the same as agreement.