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Comment by gaius | Hacker News Reader

I suspect most Americans would be disgusted by all of this, if they were really aware of it

I don't think that's true. I think Americans actually like it this way. It gives a soccer mom a deep sense of contentment that if anyone so much as looks at her precious little darling she can summon a SWAT team to punish them. It just so happens that right now you have a President who is more than happy to deliver on this. There is an old saying: a country gets the government it deserves.

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It's more than just the current president. last I checked the patriot act wasn't a presidential decree. It would be nice if it were only a matter of getting new president and all are governmental woes went away. Problem is until the middle class stops believing sound bites and starts making all parties accountable to the middle class corporate interests will provail.

There is an old saying: a country gets the government it deserves.

Especially in a democracy.

Since the inception of radio and TV the democracy is gone. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism

Honest question: why do you believe it was there before television or radio ?

because there was no easy/centralized way to spread propaganda. One had to use terror/fear to stay in power. The truth was obvious, so somebody had to keep population scared, so they don't revolt. Nowadays, subtle propaganda works. You air day and night stuff explaining people that white is black and black is white and this works. People see the truth, want to revolt, but then "the experts" from the silver box explain that the opposite is actually true. Everybody happy thinking they are free while they are slaves to the banks and constantly monitored by the Government.

But there was: the church.

In the same way, government could ignore the law, fake election results, and whatever - and no one would be wiser, because the only form of mass information distribution, newspapers, are government control.

I suspect the situation had been as bad or worse before radio and television; that throughout history with very minor exceptions, there has not been a functioning democracy anywhere (in the common meaning of the term). I don't find your argument there was one convincing.

I have to agree to this because I feel that there is a serious disdain for protesters in this country. Many people I know seem to feel that hurting or arresting peaceful protesters is okay.

The amount of apathy in this country is staggering.

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