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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2969 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 19, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Is there anything I as an individual can do to push back against Flock cameras or broader mass surveillance in the US?

Reading 1984 as a sixth grader I was horrified by Big Brother and the authoritarianism illustrated in the book and always felt that if those things came to life it would be right and imperative to fight against them, and every year I’ve seen more and more authoritarian overreach that disturbs me.

I do not vote as I believe it’s a massive waste of time at best. I am not fond of solutions such as “call your congressperson” or “show up to your local council and demand change” because these are similarly time wasting activities in my opinion.

I am frustrated by the acceptance of the public for these technologies with terrible implications for the present and the future. I don’t want to break the law in order to fight them and don’t want to become more of a target, which seems inevitable if you want to speak against it publicly. I feel very disappointed in people around me and the modern west when I realize the state of mass surveillance today.

You can shift public opinion to get other people to vote/go to council meetings/become elected officials by using techniques from public relations/propaganda. That is how Edward Bernays shifted the public perception around smoking to increase the amount of people that smoked.

Locally, I noticed that people seem to be able to stir up the issue on social media to get enough people to show-up to the council meetings to get the Flock contract not-renewed, but it kind of seems like a shell game where the government will quietly shift to a similar provider when the public pressure cools back down again when people inevitably switch their attention/efforts to other things.

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