Good luck trying to fix the source of the problem when information spreads as quickly as it does today. Any attempt to put terrorist attacks in perspective, or to calm people's reactions, is met with knee-jerk "How dare you" responses.

That's why we have so many mechanisms to slow official reactions. We know that, as humans, we are prone to rash decisions in the face of crisis. Even the patriot act contains a sunset provision, an internal recognition that it was likely a knee-jerk reaction to fear. But the renewal of that provision is not a rash decision, nor is it taken by ISIS. The decision to keep the Patriot Act alive year after year is a cold political calculation divorced from any immediate crisis.

"Similar organizations have existed for hundreds of years"

So have done the internal source of erosion, is just they now have the technological capacities. In absence of a strong social movement against, this doesn't look well for the future.

Take a look at britain in the 50s, or the US in the 60s. Speech was more heavily stymied then than it is today. It cost more to do so, but governments then still tracked people's activity. If anything, today's technology allows us to recognize and react to such behaviour whereas previous generations remained unaware.

Al Qaeda was the excuse. We did it to ourselves.