‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.’
O’Brien says it to Winston after he's through torturing him in Room 101. It represents total surveillance and total control, all of the time, forever.
This is the vision that Ellison, Zuckerberg, CCP, Musk, et al have for us, but not for them. They get the good coffee and they get to turn their "telescreens" off.
The problem with democracy is its noise. With regard to such matters most citizens couldn't give a fuck, and those few who do care will have countermanding views. Thus, opinionated views mostly cancel out and governments (mainly the faceless gnomes within the bureaucracy) are left to legislate whatever they like into law. More often than not, laws end up reflecting things that make their lives easier.
In short, democracy best serves vested interests, much less so ordinary citizens.
