The governments are largely just a product of the nosiest citizens. So there is always a connection to 'Joe Average'.

You see defenders of censorship all over HN these days, especially by people from the UK and Australia. The people saying "it's nothing to worry about because it only happens to bad people who deserved it" sort of defenses that pop up early on.

Then when authoritarianism naturally grows larger and larger people only blame the politicians, not the people defending it every chance they get.