I'm pretty sure it's referencing Half-Life 2, where an agent of an oppressive regime tells you to pick up a can that they just dropped on the floor as a sadistic display of authority (and to provide world-building and teach the grab mechanics to the player).

The GP is equating policies for strong passwords that aren't trivially cracked with authoritarianism.

If no one had a good password, we actually would affect each other negatively. If your personal banker can be easily compromised, that means that you could be easily parted with your money.

I do agree that they are not the same thing.