When I started The Corbett Report in 2007, the idea that governments were watching and listening to everything we do was still wild-eyed conspiracy theory. Oh, sure, the fact that the NSA had been secretly and illegally wiretapping Americans since at least 9/11 was, by that point, mainstream news. But those “revelations” (which themselves were old news to conspiracy realists) were not enough to convince the dyed-in-the-wool coincidence theorists that the government was actively engaged in the electronic surveillance of everyone.

We conspiracy realists could (and did) talk till we were blue in the face about the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act and Stellar Wind and Room 641A. “The NSA is splitting off the internet trunk lines and running them into locked off server rooms, for crying out loud!” we shouted. “What more do you need to know?”

We talked to NSA whistleblowers like William Binney and Russ Tice. We learned about ThinThread and Trailblazer, and how mass collection of everything was ready and waiting to go before 9/11. We learned how the NSA was spying on high-ranking officials within the US government itself, including senior congressional leaders, high-ranking military generals, the entire Supreme Court, and even then-US Senator from Illinois and future President, Barack Obama.

We made note of the mainstream media’s own casual admissions of the power of the deep state’s spying tools. We observed how our phones are listening to us even when they’re “off.” How smart appliances will be used to spy on us in our own homes. How the FBI can go back and listen to a recording of any phone conversation you’ve had at any point in the past, even if you weren’t under surveillance.

“Big Brother is already here!” we warned. “1984 is today!”

And we were laughed at.

Fast forward to 2020, and now no one is laughing. Instead, everyone’s shrugging their shoulders: “Yeah, of course the government is tracking us. They have to! It’s for our own good!”

So what happened? . . .

Find out how the public came to love Big Brother in this week’s edition of The Corbett Report Subscriber. Also, stay tuned for his recommended reading, viewing and listening.

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