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The Constitution Becomes an Inconvenience
What Brooks doesn’t seem to grasp — or perhaps doesn’t care about — is that America has a Bill of Rights for a reason.
The Fourth Amendment exists to stop exactly this kind of government overreach. Turning AI into a digital spy to monitor online conversations isn’t public safety — it’s authoritarianism.
Brooks even admitted the Minnesota shooter legally obtained his weapons despite existing red flag laws. Instead of fixing broken enforcement, his answer is to build an entirely new surveillance system that would make the NSA jealous.
“She [sic] was writing all this stuff online,” Brooks complained. But millions of Americans vent frustrations or make dark jokes online without ever hurting anyone. Under his logic, countless innocent citizens would end up flagged as “threats” simply for having a bad day.
Casual Authoritarianism in Action
The scariest part isn’t even the proposal — it’s how casually Brooks floated it. This is how liberty gets chipped away. Not with fiery speeches demanding control, but with mild-mannered pundits wondering if maybe government should just watch us all a little closer.
Brooks wrapped his suggestion in talk about “nihilism” and mental health, as if Big Brother spying was a wellness initiative. That’s how tyranny gets sold — dressed up as concern.
And let’s not forget: this is the same media class that mocked conservatives for warning about surveillance. Now their own star columnist is pitching AI to monitor Americans’ thoughts.
How It Gets Normalized
First, it’s “just an idea.” Next, it becomes a pilot program “for safety.” Then, before long, every tweet, meme, or rant is run through an algorithm to determine if you’re dangerous.
Who decides what’s a threat? The same government that labeled parents at school board meetings as “domestic terrorists”? The same bureaucrats who claim waving a Gadsden flag makes you an extremist?
This isn’t hypothetical. Once you hand government the authority to monitor speech in the name of “future crime prevention,” there’s no limit to what they’ll justify. Today it’s school shooters. Tomorrow it’s “tax protesters.” Next week it’s critics of the ruling party.
The Real Problem They Ignore
Brooks briefly admitted the Minnesota shooter was a nihilist who “believed in nothing.” That should have been the real discussion. Why are so many young people losing hope and purpose?
But instead of addressing cultural rot — a society that tells kids America is evil, faith is outdated, and life has no meaning — elites like Brooks want to monitor everyone’s posts. That doesn’t solve the problem. It just builds a digital police state.
The Slippery Road Ahead
This is how tyranny takes hold in America. Not with armies in the streets, but with an establishment figure in a bow tie calmly suggesting that AI should monitor our lives.
Brooks didn’t just pitch a bad idea. He revealed how normalized government surveillance has already become among the elites.
Once we accept that AI can track online speech in the name of “safety,” freedom is gone. And it won’t stop with mass shooters. It never does.
The real question is: are Americans going to let them build this system — or will we finally draw the line?
