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Look, I was trying to understand why the op believed the points that they made were not "pro surveillance-state", that doesn't align with what you are interested in reading here, but that's not really my job.

> You implied

I think you are implying that I implied.

Best to end this here, probably.

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Everyone who writes 'not trying to sound pro X, but... ' is about to follow that with things that sounds pro X. That's what that rhetorical device means. So they obviously knew that the points sounded pro-surveillance. That's why they wrote that disclaimer.

They sounded pro-surveillance because they are pro-surveillance. The better question should be why a pro-surveillance person making pro-surveillance points felt the need to start with "I'm not pro-surveillance but". Perhaps they know their position is very unpopular and are hoping this magic spell will ward off some criticism?

Or maybe it's just more complicated than being on one side or the other.

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