alt Hacker NewsOne of the original motivations for the First Amendment was the UK's surveillance and censorship of American mail; the UK has been a surveillance state for a very long time.
Replies
Free speech but a president that can deploy the military anywhere in American for no reason. Free speech but an unthinkable number of children murdered in schools on a regular basis for decades. Free speech but bankruptcy if you get cancer. I think I'm alright with the surveillance.
I was amused by the UK TV show Spooks (aka MI5), from the early 2000s - it showed an organization with a ridiculous amount of surveillance and other powers, acting in blatantly partisan ways, but it tried very hard to make that all seem like a good thing.
The underlying argument was essentially the same one used in the US: almost anything is justified if it helps prevent anything they subjectively determine as “terrorism”.
I also can't help thinking people living in the UK now are descended from people who didn't leave for the colonies, or were too rich to need to. Far too many of us just can't be bothered.