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by lettergram 3544 days ago
Have you ever tried to get a group of people to protest anything? Like seriously, the black lives matter are more effective, than people regarding the NSA, privacy, or encryption. Even though some of the stuff we know about the government is WAY scarier.
2 comments
bdavisx 3544 days ago
Not to downplay the NSA issues -- but it's a lot scarier for a black/brown person to realize their life can be ended when they get stopped for having a tail light out.
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lettergram 3544 days ago
I do agree that people will think that way, but it's actually not scarier. Giving the government the power it has, implies the government can basically do what ever it want. It has secret courts, secret arrests, and secret police. That is way more horrifying than the very small risk of being shot - which the numbers don't even fully support that it's getting worse, unjustified, or even preventable. I recommend the Through the Wormhole episode: are we all bigots?).

That being said, I do think we whould always be wary of police and generally question the government. It's important we keep into perspective what's actually a threat and whats just unfortunate. Both should be improved, but one (the NSA) can prevent any sort of improvement, the police shooting rate seems to be more of an over reaction and mistake that almost everyone agrees should be fixed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/13/why-a...

http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/through-the-wormhole/...

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optimuspaul 3544 days ago
I don't think you can say what is scarier for another person.
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matt_wulfeck 3544 days ago
What's the difference than someone saying it is scarier? This reasoning "only people who are X can say what it's like to be X" makes no logical sense.
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vertex-four 3544 days ago
"Needles are scary."

Well, actually... no, I don't find needles scary.

To be scared is an emotional response, and you can't really tell pother people what their emotions are.

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kbenson 3544 days ago
Yes. As these things go, every day existential threats generally trump threats to our liberty. I can't fault anyone for that.
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vertex-four 3544 days ago
The issue is more that there's an incredible amount of people who just don't care about the Constitution. Or pretty much anything else that isn't affecting them in a really direct way right that moment in time.

And so, in giving a democratic Government ridiculous amounts of power, we give it power to harm pretty much any minority it chooses, so long as it doesn't piss off too many other people.

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