Post #2390706

2026-05-10 02:31 UTC

I lived and worked in both the US and China. My life was infinitely better in China. You don’t even notice the cameras but what you do notice is that I can go to my café, leave my electric scooter unlocked with helmet on, get a table outside, put my laptop on it and then go inside to order coffee without any fear anything will get stolen. In the parks there are public coat racks and people put their jackets, backpacks and other stuff on without any hesitation. Delivery packages are left outside and gathered sometimes outside of the compound on the public walkway. Now whenever I travel to Europe, I have to totally reverse this behavior otherwise all my shit will be gone. That to me is awful.

Replies (1)

@LuminousLuddite@lemmy.world 2026-05-10 05:05

I would rather live in a crunchy, gritty, unpredictable world thats actually real than the suffocating sterility of an authoritarian surveillance state even if it feels safer to those willing to overlook the deep violation of human dignity by the forced use of mass surveillance in any context. Surveillance may marginally improve safety due to the fact that it discourages bad behavior, but never forget that it serves the powerful much more than it improves public safety. If they really wanted to make us safe, they would provide everyone healthcare, housing, education and a living wage. Crime would plummet if most people were content and had enough money to just breath and enjoy life but instead they give us Flock and Palantir.

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