I am the biggest opponent of a police state you can imagine, but Eunice Stone reported Islamist twirps in a public place making allusions to an upcoming terrorist act they were pretending to be planning.
Are you saying her actions are a threat to liberty?
In a sense. A million Eunice Stones playing spy, reporting every imagined "suspicious" activity or conversation or joke to the State, is fertilizer for the police state.
I'd wager a good majority of FReepers (and other Americans) engage in activity that's "suspisious" to some people. Merely carrying a gun, or reading a book that's "far Right" or "far Left" or the Koran, or renting a horror or porn film, or taking a late night walk, is "suspicious" to some people.
Read Ray Bradbury's "The Pedestrian," in which a late night walk is deemed "suspiscious" enough to cart people off.
Police states grow by restricting freedom in order to fight unpopular groups (criminals, child molesters, hate groups, terrorists, "gun nuts"). Then the good citizens are surprised when the laws' unintended consequences are turned against them.
It is simply not healthy to encourage people to report minor personal offenses, or joking. Snitches are usually attention-seekers with empty lives, eager to find trouble where there is none.
You imagine that you're a good guy, and hence have nothing to fear from the state, or its snitches. But as a conservative, you're an evil villain to many who are just waiting for an excuse to report you for some imagine offense.
Q: What's the definition of a liberal?
A: A conservative who's been arrested.