Privacy advocates and gun advocates fear the same boogieman but only privacy tech can stop it short of war and war is rarely an invited guest.
The fear of authority gone awry and reaching towards authoritarianism is not irrational. The desire to have tools that protect you from authoritarianism is not irrational. The desire to proactively prevent authoritarianism is not irrational.
Now go back and re-read that paragraph but replace “authoritarian” with “lawlessness”, or “brutality”, or “abuse”, or “exploitation”. Bad things are bad things, and they all follow the same pattern in societies that are free.
They attempt to undermine our belief that they are bad. They use doublespeak to twist what you fear into a wedge between groups. They promote zero-sum thinking to create the illusion that freedom is scarce and there isn’t enough to go around. They use shamelessness to bully you into normalizing abhorrent behavior. They find a group that is downtrodden and whisper to them, “When I am in charge, you will be on top.” and then they point to another group and declare them responsible for all the problems in the world and whisper again, “When I am in charge you will get to punish them for what they did to you.”
Now go back and read that paragraph and replace “They” with “gun advocate”. or “privacy advocate”, or “abortion abolitionist”, or “Progressive”, or “Conservative”. The only difference is the artfulness of how they undermine and the degree of vengeance they promise as retribution. Issues don’t define individuals unless they choose to be defined by them, but issues are how societies are carved up by they anti-social.
There are no shortcuts or cheat codes when building societies. If you have a closed mind, a closed heart, or a closed door, all you will understand is what is inside. But if you open your mind, your heart, and your doors and go outside and genuinely experience what it is like to be among people who aren’t seeking authority, lawlessness, brutality, abuse, or exploitation you may find that you have a lot more in common that They want you to believe.