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Comment by kunai | Hacker News Reader

Mindless with respect to political issues, is quite appropriate, I think. When my mom or my dad or my grandma says, "I have nothing to hide" (and they do, whenever I call them about some privacy concern), my respect for them with regards to political issues, drastically drops. Perhaps "mindless" is harsh, but they certainly aren't being insightful or politically educated.

I'm not trying to launch ad hominem attacks on you or your relatives. I'm trying to get people to wake up.

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My parents are extremely politically educated, as is my wife. My dad has traveled the world extensively (80+ different countries) and seen nearly every kind of government under the sun. He was very involved politically when Bangladesh was seeking its independence. My wife, for her part, lived in east Germany after high school and observed the political situation in a city where many people still remembered life under communist rule. Yet, none of them care about your pet issue.

Fact is not everyone sees life in terms of slippery slope fallacies. The status quo is really pretty good, and it's perfectly rational to think there are more pressing political concerns than the NSA knowing how often you call your mom. My dad has his pet issue (he's anti-war), and my wife has her's (she's an adherent feminist). People aren't mindless or irrational because they don't share your political beliefs or your priorities with respect to political issues.

> Yet, none of them care about your pet issue.

Actual former East Germans still remember the Stasi and Germany itself has fought for privacy (see Germany v. Facebook).

Do you always consider people with differing opinions "mindless"?

Everyone has different levels of privacy needs. I imagine you are OK with people seeing your face, knowing your name, or generally overhearing your conversations on the street. This is simply a different level of openness than being OK with people knowing what websites you visit or hearing your telephone conversations remotely.

In the same way that I don't care if some random guy at a coffee shop sees me visiting HackerNews or watching cat videos, I don't really care if the government sees it either. How does that make me mindless?

I can guarantee you that you won't get people to wake up by insulting them. At least I can't recall a single case that's ever worked.

Hyperventilating nerd rage is not helpful, but it will get you a lot of upvotes.

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