An example of the imperial boomerang [0]. People who salivate over the latest military tech in the same way as the new iPhone are blind to the fact that these weapons/surveillance platforms could be used on them as well.
I’m not disagreeing but I am saying that unfortunately I think many voters are completely fine with the boomerang effect.
They are operating under a parasocial delusion that the president knows about their problem, cares about their problem, and will fix their problem so any issues are transitory and don’t require them to update their beliefs
I'm with the greeks on this, which is what they try to communicate in and through their stories.
TL;DR
The gods exist, they walk among us, they are powerful, they look just like humans, they are intelligent cruel deceptive and capricious. They are not there for your benefit.
You survive your encounters with them by being observant and measured, and follow a framework based in objective reality which could be intelligence and a fair bit of luck; or you don't.
Not all religions have all powerful protective father figures that will shield you from everything stunting and coddling you. Most in fact don't if you pay attention.
This gem is littered throughout greek mythology especially heavily in the Odyssey.
They know liberal governments won't engage in similar activities.
More or less identical thought pattern as when someone on HN is gushing about punitive fines for petty civil nuisance behavior or noncompliance with bureaucratic stuff, something everyone here should be familiar with.
Different issues, same evil.
Predator drones can monitor protests, but so can the phone company, only in greater detail, with knowledge of exactly who everyone in the crowd is, how long they've been there, where they came from, where they went when they left, who their friends are
We don't actually know how these entities do certain things because they don't have credibility, and it is well known that they lie to protect tradecraft.
More like WILL. It's the nature of all empires, first to grow, and then to shrink. But, the empire's mechanism of repression won't suddenly become humane and forget all its tools and tactics for torture, rape, extralegal imprisonment, etc. As the shrinking empire causes friction at home, those same techniques will be unleashed to suppress dissenters.
Schmitt's friend-enemy distinction doesn't save you from this either, because you can still group your red-blooded countrymen into those brackets arbitrarily once you have plenary powers.