8 ms·
(English is not my native language) I am very surprised by the very large amount of statism that seems to be present in USA in general and on hacker news in pa
by np422 13y ago
(English is not my native language)
I am very surprised by the very large amount of statism that seems to be present in USA in general and on hacker news in particular.
The high level of support for GWOT and all the side dishes like TSA, mass surveillance etc is very surprising.
Each and one of all the things that have been done in the post 9/11 world may partially or completely be justifiable on it's own.
But please, take a step back and paint a picture of where we have come from and were we are going if this trend continues.
If I may help you...
http://i.imgur.com/tfPY1y0.jpg http://i.imgur.com/tfPY1y0.jpg , here is a picture of the subway in New York in the 80's, dirty and full of graffiti - with drugs and violence present and by all means also music, food vendors and a lot of people going to their jobs.
http://i.imgur.com/AxWRPgl.jpg http://i.imgur.com/AxWRPgl.jpg , here is the Moscow subway from the same time. Clean, spotless and no one behaves disorderly without the police arresting them quickly, police officers with none of the ridiculous limitations that the western police had in their code of conduct at that time.
In which of those two subways would you prefer to ride to work every day?
With every new alfabet law designed to protect us that passes through the parliaments, with every new government agency we move closer to a society that looks more like the Moscow subway station.
Not to long ago we were prepared for thermonuclear war to defend our ways.
Today we are giving up our open and free society with a cheer so we can stay safe. Step by step, piece by piece.
Why can't the otherwise so intelligent and educated crowd of hacker news see that our society is heading in the direction of a police state? We are not there yet, but it is where we will end up if we don't turn around soon.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- gus_massa 13y agoIs it possible to opt in for cleanliness and freedom? Perhaps something like http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=swedish+subway http://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=swedish+subway ? (I understand that it is not a perfectly free country nor a perfectly clean country, but it looks good enough.)
- StavrosK 13y agoWell, last time I visited, the Athens subway was spotless too, so I don't know how much correlation exists between "cleanliness of subways" and "police state". Maybe "cleanliness of subways" and "number of cleaning staff on subway".
- alttag 13y agoAs a counterpoint, I've spoken with several who have visited and/or studied Singapore, and they attribute its cleanliness to police enforcement, not janitorial staff.
- youngerdryas 13y agoThe American people are resourceful, well armed and have a strong distrust of government, any attempted police state would last about five minutes and result in impeachment.
- huhtenberg 13y agoHAHAHAHAHHAHHAHA. Oh, jeez. /me wipes a tear. Good one. Say that, verbatim, to the face of a TSA agent during a patdown after removing your shoes, throwing away a half-empty bottle of water and making damn sure a nail clipper rides in your baggage. But be sure to keep your voice down and avoid an eye contact, lest you want to end up on a no-fly list.
- youngerdryas 13y agoNerd fantasies of oppression are interesting, they need to feel they are under siege. It is no wonder they have trouble with women and business.
- np422 13y agoAbout ten years ago some guys from Saudi Arabia made it their goal to strike terror into US of A. I would say that they have done a pretty good job.
- analog 13y agoLet me guess, you're American?
- youngerdryas 13y agoNo one here on the ground feels any impending police state, it is wildly impractical.
- analog 13y agoAn article in the Guardian last year by a journalist who lives in Connecticut. Headline - "The TSA's mission creep is making the US a police state" http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/18/tsa-mission-creep-us-police-state http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/apr/...
- ck2 13y agoI don't think there is wide GWOT support on HN, certainly not TSA. Sadly in the USA, yeah maybe 50% but they are very vocal about it so it sounds like more in the news. What surprised me are the "don't do background checks on guns" enthusiasts around here but I suspect they are also just more vocal than the other half.
- signalsignal 13y agoWhy is that New York picture in Black and White, and the Moscow Metro empty?
- crusso 13y agoNo one wants a police state, but modern Americans lack the discipline and knowledge to prevent it from happening. Americans can read about police state atrocities in other countries and be horrified while not understanding that bit by bit, piece by piece, they are constantly trading individual sovereignty for government power.
- tkahn6 13y agoI'd actually rather ride the NYC subway today than the one in the 80s or the one in Moscow today, so I guess you're presenting a false dichotomy.
- np422 13y agoI wasn't really talking about subways but rather trying to use a metaphor. :) Mad Max style Anarchy on one hand, the total and brutal police state on the other and a cosy middle ground somewhere between. My point being that we are now leaving the cosy middle ground and travelling towards the police state. We are not there yet, but that's were we are heading. Can we please make an U-turn at the convenient intersection?