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@alyaza I think states spend a lot of money and time making propaganda to seep into every aspect of our lives that tells us the state is this all-powerful, unavoidable god-machine, but even the surveillance state has its limitations and overlooks shit, and it can take aaages for them to rifle through the masses of data they collect. The government and the police are humans capable of mistakes, and more importantly vulnerable to being overcome by humans, but the easiest defence of the state is to convince people that victory is impossible and therefore attack is useless
These same arguments were used against revolutionaries under feudalism.
@scottishwobbly Last week I was downtown across from our police station digging into the town's landscaping to get up herbs I wanted and no one said a thing; I really think people overestimate how much resources there are in these systems like, at a moment's notice. Everyone's so behind on work and hours are being cut, y'know... @alyaza
@scottishwobbly And while now I live in southern town, yea, I used to do actions in DC and like, Manhattan, and one person doing shit is a lot faster than a bureaucratic response. @alyaza
@scottishwobbly @alyaza Yes. As in the well known Gene Sharp narrative, large oppressive states have systemic weaknesses. Their size and rigidity make them vulnerable to subversion.
It's true that letter agencies have their tentacles everywhere - even in the fediverse - but their "collect it all" approach obscures more than it enlightens. To even hope to sift through the monstrous data avalanche they have to use filters which are faulty. Add ML to that and it gets worse. There will be a lot of the data equivalent of jumping at shadows, seeing faces in clouds and tulip panics.