It's a very insidious, first you look all over your neighborhood flock cameras Hundreds of them came out of nowhere Nobody fought back .

it's as long as you're not doing anything wrong you don't have to worry about it Then once changed the definition of what wrong means.

If you're not a criminal you don't have to worry about it That's for your safety Then they changed the definition of what a crime is

its only with the benefit of hindsight (and being on the winning side- thus the propaganda was never dispelled) that we consider the stasi and so on the way we do.

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck.. might just be a duck.

I don’t believe those living “normal lives” in East Germany or the Soviet era considered the police to be evil and invasive the way we do today.

> With all due respect, this is a wild take. Things aren't great in the U.S. right now, but they're not even in the same universe as what the Stasi was doing.

Don't kid yourself. That's what they want. They're slowly testing to find out how much they can get away with. Would you have imagined that the nation would quietly sit back and allow what's been done so far ten or twenty years ago? Just because there have been large protests doesn't mean anything. Congress should have been outraged on both sides at this madness, but one side only cares about winning (so they like it) and the other is completely feckless.

> but they're not even in the same universe as what the Stasi was doing

At what point? It's easy to say when we mention the Stasi or the Nazis that we're comparing it to the end game they had going, but the transformation was a bit of process.

I mean its so much easier to do stuff the Stasi could only dream of with technology today.

> what the Stasi was doing

the stasi were spying on people and putting them in jail. what exactly is your claim about the difference? is it a difference in distinction or a difference in degree?

History doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

-Mark Twain

You'd be surprised.

I also do find americans to be utterly naive regarding this slide towards fascism, and I live here so don't bother trying to explain it to me.

You only saw the end result regarding the "universe as what the Stasi was doing", obviously you didn't pay attention to the road getting there.

You're right that the US is not in the same universe as the Stasi was.

The US steals more data and conducts more illicit monitoring of people in a day than the Stasi ever could in a year. Its just that the Stasi lived in an analog world, so you had lots of PHYSICAL material leftover for people to point at in faux horror.

Even now, the US is busily deploying electric shock gloves whose main selling point, DIRECT FROM THE MOUTHS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT, is that they allow pain to be administered to enforce "compliance", without leaving any real evidence.

And they are being trialed in Nebraska. On ... SCHOOL CHILDREN.

(and to complete the dystopian joke, check out the name of the company selling these Dr Doom gloves)

Whats that you hear? Howls of outrage & dissaproval from the denizens of "The Land of the Free" (tm)?

Err, no. Its just the wind blowing leaves around.

You sir are the proverbial frog who has been in the pan so long, he doesn't realise he's being boiled alive

What makes you qualified and informed of what’s taking place to determine that?

What we hear about is far from comprehensive, and many of the atrocities won’t be unveiled or investigated until the next decade.

The Epstein cover up shows they’re used to keeping secrets.

I’m not sure why we’re pretending there’s not a convicted felon in charge of the entire system.

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I am pretty sure someone discussing taking people to gas chambers in 1933 would also be called having a wild take. It's where the US is heading.

Fascism marches on in full swing.