We are beginning to look like fake democracies. The press and commentators seem to have no trouble getting 'charged up' about China or Russia but there is a shocking absence of scrutiny and outrage about actions at home.

What makes this absurd is its being done in a 'democracy' making that word increasingly meaningless as a marker. Activities that define a surveillance state cannot coalesce into 'western democracy' without rendering it meaningless.

Its unlikely without mainstream protest the surveillance state project will simply fold on its own. And the dangerous dynamic of denial and dissonance that systematically focuses attention and outrage on 'the other' is letting citizens and media affect commitment to these values while letting their own governments off the hook.