[higherpurpose]

I think most people need some fear about state spying. Most are still treating it like it's no big deal. It's like the Stasi are here and no one gives a damn. That should scare people. Maybe we're deeper into Huxley's world than we thought.

[lordCarbonFiber]

Amusingly enough, I think a large part of why people aren't more scared are sentiments like the ones you just expressed. It is plainly not "just like the Stasi are here" and the average person can see that. By overstating the threat we de-legitimise our concerns and apathy grows (similar to the effect the DARE program had on drug use). Is the expansion of state level surveillance cause for concern? Of course it is! However, we are by no means living in a police state and saying so is an insult towards the people working very hard to effect policy to keep it that way. In short, in my opinion, we should spread less fear mongering and more political activism if we want to see change in these policies.

[brown9-2]

Or perhaps people are treating it like a big deal because it turns out that the Stasi actually isn't here.

[nirnira]

Um, I think you mean Orwell's world. Unless you're trying to compare us to people who are too busy getting high and going to senso-movies to care about anything important.

Or are you implying we make babies in factories?