Stockholms syndrome on the societal level

Great idea mined from William Gibson's Spook Country an awesome post-cyberpunk novel about the post-911 atmosphere of fear, surveillance, blurring of lines between corporate and government intell. The idea is that the phenomenon of patriotism (nationalism) displayed by Americans after 9-11 was a collective form of Stockholm's syndrome. Stockholm's is a psychological condition developed by people in captivity and involves sympathizing or identifying with ones captors. Patty Hearst with the Symbionese Liberation Army is the classic example.

The implications of this observation are obvious, but will be misunderstood and denied by most. This is because people have a hard time seeing that the US government doesn't serve them, in fact it serves corporate interest which wants people to behave a certain way. We're free so long as we keep buying what their selling and don't rock the boat to much. People aren't aware that they are captives because the walls have such pretty wallpaper.

But we are captives of an economic and political system (hard to draw a line anymore) that we don't have an option of participating in our not. By participation I don't mean the democratic kind, the kind that forces the government to obey the people. I mean the passive participation by which the people obey the government and the corporate capitalist economy.
Slavery never ended, we just gave slaves a new name. We call them employees.