One issue that really stood out to me while reading George Orwell's Dystopian novel 1984, was the unrestricted surveillance of citizens through 'Big Brother's' use of Telescreens. In the novel, Telescreens are similar to today's TVs but Telescreens have the ability to watch and listen to anybody throughout all hours of the day. This struck a chord with me because it sounds somewhat similar to the National Security Agency's un-warranted search of American's phone calls and emails. In the novel the main character Winston gets caught and captured by the government through secret use of telescreen surveillance because Winston was plotting to rebel against the government. This can be paralleled in today's society to the NSA listening to American phone calls in search or anything that may arouse suspicion. Now while the NSA is not as extensive or obvious as telescreens, it is still a scary precedent that the government has the ability to do this to citizens.
While in 1984 the citizens could not do anything against the surveillance, in today's society many people are outraged that the government can use unrestricted surveillance, and steps are being taken to restrict the NSA's ability to use unwarranted searches of American phone calls and emails.
In 1984, there is no way to overthrow Big Brother or to stop Ingsoc; do you think that is the same with the NSA's surveillance? The American people were distraught when they heard about it, but did anyone take steps to stop it or delete the recorded material? All I have heard from this discussion is how terrible the government is for watching its people, and nothing about how to solve the problem and make everyone happy.
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used the NSA as a comparison. It is very relevant to today's world. While our society may not be as extreme as 1984, some things are becoming very similar. We may not have telescreens but why would we even need them when we already have cameras built into our laptops and phones?
ReplyDelete