Many of us watch the reality of our current 'Police State' and it's interactions with other citizens and wonder, 'How in the world has it come to this?' The linked editorial gives a picture into the programming of our current culture with a possible answer.

"With every SWAT team raid, police shooting and terrorist attack – real or staged, we're being systematically desensitized and acclimated to the trappings of the police state. This is borne out by numerous studies indicating that the more violence we watch on television – whether real or fictional – the less outraged we will be by similar acts of real-life aggression.

For instance, tasers were sold to the American public as a way to decrease the use of deadly force by police, reduce the overall number of use-of-force incidents, and limit the number of people seriously injured. Instead, we've witnessed an increase in the use of force by police and a desensitizing of the public to police violence. As Professor Victor E. Kappeler points out, "no one riots because the police stunned-gunned a drunk for non-compliance or because a cop pepper-sprayed a group of protesters."

Indeed, notes Kappeler:

Police officers possessing less-than-lethal weapons are often more inclined to use these weapons in situations where they would not have been legally justified in using traditional weapons, or for that matter any level of force at whatsoever. This phenomenon is known as net widening. As use of force technologies improve, police become more likely to apply force in a greater number of situations, in less serious situations, to more vulnerable people and resort to force in cases where people simply do not immediately comply with their directives.

What we're witnessing is net widening of the police state and, incredibly, it's taking place while the citizenry watches."