Big Brother in Today's World

Sometimes I think we are our own Big Brother. We dictate what others know about our private life. Some may say that Facebook has really cut down on the amount of privacy we have as individuals, but I also think that it's our own fault. Nobody is making us put up pictures of our underage selves drinking at a party, or tells us to post inappropriate things. June Talvitie-Siple, a former school teacher, was fired because she posted rude remarks about students and parents on her Facebook wall. Some may say that this was an infringement of her privacy, but was it really? She posted it, and put it out there for anyone to know, so this "loss of privacy" was her own fault. We also are our own Big Brother in the sense that if someone commits a "thinkcrime" against us (i.e., back-stabbing, spreading rumors, etc.), that person is instantly our "enemy" regardless of previous ties. It might even go to the extent that we'll try to have others follow suit in hating that person, and will change past experiences with that person to make them look bad.

In some cases, though, we don't really have control over our privacy. I don't think society today has gotten quite as bad as the one in 1984, but we might be moving toward it. In 2006, a report came through that stating that there were high chances that someone using a cell phone had their phone call monitored. In Philadelphia, a high school was sued for using webcams on laptops to spy on students. These are two cases where our privacy is violated by people who we should be able to trust, and it makes me wonder if there aren't other ways unknown to us that people are encroaching on our privacy.

I don't feel that we are willing to give up our basic freedoms just to feel "safe". For example, a lot of people argue that we should amend the Constitution so that we no longer have a right to bear arms because of how "unsafe" guns are. Guns aren't what kill people--people kill people. That's like arguing that your pencil is what caused you to misspell a word. No--you misspelled the word, not your pencil. Even if our second amendment right were to be amended, I personally wouldn't feel safer. If you think about it, though, who would have the guns? Military and government personnel, and our "enemies". It could potentially turn into a case of 1984 where there is complete dictatorship, absolutely no privacy, and revolt would be impossible. Our "enemies" would have the upper hand because citizens wouldn't be able to protect themselves. When one takes into consideration the downsides (however extreme they may be) of what could potentially happen when freedoms are lost, most people are going to realize that a loss of privacy is a small price to pay.