I started writing this as a Facebook status, but realised my rant was getting a bit too long for Facebook and remembered that I actually have this blog for exactly that kind of thing so why not use it? Besides, one post every 9 months shouldn’t be too much for people to handle. Anyway, read on!
Having grown up using a computer, and with the Internet at my fingertips since I was a teenager, I get the impression that many people of my generation and younger have a very different view of ‘Big Brother’ reading our communication. Everything you do and say on the internet can be read by someone else, and so of course why wouldn’t ‘Big Brother’ be watching as well?
I think for a lot of people the ‘spying’ that Snowden / DotCom have revealed our Government to be a part of, is just something that most of us assume was happening anyway. There sadly isn’t the sense of outrage that there should be about the fact we have been being watched.
I think a lot of that lack of outrage stems from a lack of understanding of what can happen when a Government doesn’t have your best interests at heart, but can see and hear everything you may do or say to try and stand up for those freedoms. We assume that the Government won’t do something that wasn’t in our best interests so we just go along with it as part of the status quo.
Maybe because I’ve read and watched enough tales of distopian futures where governments have taken mass control of the civilian population and only a plucky rebellious few are trying to stand up for their freedom but have to watch what they say and do because even the walls have ears, but I can certainly imagine what might happen if those all-knowing powers were not used for good. What about the rest of you? Any opinions on this topic – either for or against the ‘Big Brother’ scenario? I’m interested in real thought out response here as I think there’s a few in my friends list that may read this that don’t know what to think about this one way or the other.
It certainly puts me in mind of the quote “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” ~ Benjamin Franklin – forgive me if I got the exact words wrong, but the gist of it is what’s important.
Feel free to leave a comment here on the blog, or return to Facebook and leave a comment there letting me know what you think and why.
Cheers!
H