We can rest assured there were plenty of beatings and tasings involved - that&#x27;s a big part of why some &quot;people&quot; become police officers in the first place.<p>But the point is that the same thing happens everywhere. Not that long ago, Hong Kong&#x27;s people protested against China appointing their rulers. They were beaten and maced etc.<p>Brazilians protested against a massive waste of their money on The World Cup (or some such), and got swiftly brutalized by the police. Venezuelans protested economic destruction etc, and got brutalized.<p>You see, as long as people just endure whatever bullshit their rulers are inflicting on them, the rulers don&#x27;t have to give a fuck about them. But when people actually <i>resist</i>, they are violently repressed.<p>Otherwise the masses might start entertaining the notion that <i>maybe</i> they <i>don&#x27;t have to just take</i> all the bullshit bureaucracy, massive looting&#x2F;exploitation, surveillance and abuse they&#x27;re subjected to after all, and their rulers <i>definitely</i> don&#x27;t want that to happen.<p>The whole point of being a ruler is exploiting your subjects. Surveillance and brutality are mostly just a part of what it takes to maintain your rule over them.