License plates are much more unique than faces and they do not change over time and you can't put a hat and sunglasses on them. What they lose in quantity they make up in quality. They are a much bigger intrusion but for a large majority of the population instead of literally everyone. The difference isn't very meaningful from a surveillance POV since you can build shadow profiles.

Two can play at the "I don't care about your problems because they don't affect me" game.

Some people live in rural areas with little to no government infrastructure that can be used for dragnet surveillance. They don't have to care about the government tracking faces with the subway security cameras.

That's a dumb game to play. Dragnet surveillance is bad in all forms.