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For the absolute majority of people, surveillance is the first step towards… safety. "You will have no privacy and you will feel safe" is part of the "you will own nothing and you will be happy" social package. I'm not even being sarcastic: it's simply reality. A couple of months ago YT recommended a random video by a random Chinese vlogger. I scrolled through it mostly trying to reverse-engineer why the algorithm pushed it. Then I paused on this line: "Cameras are all over the place in China but honestly we are pretty chill about it. They make us feel safe. If anything we worry about is the blind spot where there are no cameras." Just a normal person. She wants to feel safe. Most do. Especially as violent crime rises in Western countries. At some point, anything that delivers that feeling (real or perceived) will be embraced.

This is nightmare-level OPSEC. Praying it's just an AI-generated photo with fake names… because if it's not, this might be the last photo of them with all ten fingers attached...

I spent 3 years as a Marxist. I protested. I made crazy demands. I accepted no responsibility. No accountability. But then I turned 4.

Big win for the vintage car market + I've heard the Toyota Hilux is literally unkillable, time to learn how to drive stick shift.