cyrnel

They were. At least as much as today. Don't you recall the numskull media then too? (same arguments both sides, though war wasn't as significant) I don't see the ruling party as significant. Capabilities increase and people use them. The minority party whores against it. Nothing new there.

Capabilities will increase and will be used. At some point, when an administration suggests we all have nano-locators implanted in our heads to fight the venusian menace, resistance might get downright noisy. Might.

Increased monitoring will always help big business and government, and in many cases it can help individuals. Where's the balance? Will the population gradually grow accustomed to and accept monitoring at all levels in exchange for the benefits? Restrictions are inevitable. It's a matter of how much and when and if generations more accustomed to technology care.

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There are a vast number of people who are uninformed and heavily propagandized, but fundamentally decent. The propaganda that inundates them is effective when unchallenged, but much of it goes only skin deep. If they can be brought to raise questions and apply their decent instincts and basic intelligence, many people quickly escape the confines of the doctrinal system and are willing to do something to help others who are really suffering and oppressed." -Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, p. 195