Re: So the child abductor phones whom ... his counselor?
As someone who is currently living in Hong Kong where protests are ongoing. I feel obliged to say something. I've lived here since 2008 and I have local relatives here.
Let me tell you first hand, yes many young people who are not surrounded by wealth are more cynical about the government, but unfortunately, it is not a decisive majority.
You are naive (I would say to the extreme) to think that it is almost "impossible" to stir up false stories by the government. The government in Hong Kong has done exactly that for the past 2 years and these people all use FB, twitter, whatsapp etc. Yes certain groups of people spotted their tactics, but they simply continue to deny everything related to such events and flip it around and turn it on it's head and accuse such people of various crimes or ulterior motives.
Not only have they stirred up false and misleading stories, there has been a campaign trail of them, always denying wrong doing or responsibility and turning it around at whoever is complaining, continuous condemnation and accusations on genuine pro-democracy groups. The setup and support of false democracy groups that claims to be genuine who then try to get public support by appearing to be on a moral high-ground (which we have now discovered does the exact opposite of what they preach in public). And basically, all the tricks you can possibly pull to be underhanded.
You have not seen how dirty politics get if you think "Every nation gets the government it deserves." all that statement says to me is that - actually the majority of the population is VERY suseptible propaganda and deceit.
While most people on TheRegister has the mind of a tech guy. You are actually just a minority group in society. Most people in society will not care what the government does so long as it does not interfere with their own lives directly. This means that the government can target policies at minority groups pretty much at will and they will be able to claim, after a campaign of tarnishing the reputation of that minority, that they have majority public support.
"The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country."
--Hermann Goering
This quote is true even today, that is how China is ruled which worries me because it has so many similiarities with groups that has been linked to cause wars and genocide in the history of man. This is also exactly what has been happening in Hong Kong since 2012 which is the underlying reason that has lead to today's confrontations here.
I hate to admit it, but sometimes, when you're in power, and you have a sizeable support from people with the power and money to control most of society (including the "underground"), you can actually say whatever you want and get away with almost anything and be above the powers of the law by turning morally wrong situations against the ones that it was inflicted upon by claiming that it is "debatable" simply because you appear to have some public supporters and then sweep it under the carpet.
I have thought about coming back to the UK, but you know, the UK is turning into China, so really it now makes little difference where I am, oppression has been increasing around the world for the worst.