So we should 1984 the crap out of ourselves because if we don't we'll elect an authoritarian who'll 1984 the crap out of us?

Reminds me of this classic: https://static.poder360.com.br/2020/11/2020-11-07-22.31.49.j...

Yeah, I'm all for public safety in theory but seems like these days that's just a dog whistle for "go hard on whatever sort of petty deviance I don't like" and so I'm unwilling to support things like that in the default case. It's all just so tiresome.

I read OP differently. I thought they said "we should invest in non-dystopian public safety[1] to avoid dystopian populist creating a 1984 version of public safety".

[1]: I imagine this includes things like mental heath help, housing, and other related social safety nets.