In all honesty, I don't think the rise of the surveillance state in the US has all that much to do with 9/11 or fear per se. The response of most people to th

In all honesty, I don't think the rise of the surveillance state in the US has all that much to do with 9/11 or fear per se. The response of most people to things like the NSA isn't fear, it's apathy. To the degree that there is fear, for example in the acceptance of ridiculous measures at US airports, fear of our own government, i.e., fear of getting arrested, having a lifelong arrest record, or just plain old fear of standing out and rocking the boat etc., is stronger than any real fear of terrorist attacks. I think there's something generational going on also. People who constantly publish their current location, current mood and current thought on social media for all to see are going to have a completely different relation to privacy than the generations that came before. I talk to a lot of people about privacy issues and the difference between us isn't how much they fear a possible attack, the difference is how little importance they place on the government intrusion.