David Plotz's Privacy Is Overrated

“Privacy is Overrated”, written by award-winning journalist David Plotz, portrays the idea of the people’s privacy in a unique light. In the essay written for GQ magazine in 2003, Plotz argues that the people’s paranoia of privacy invasion is inspired by hypocrisy, a false sense of nostalgia, and lack of economic knowledge. The general public, however, is right to fear a totalitarian government will arise from such a lack of privacy, and should be cautious of the possible dangers that lurk on the horizon. People, for some profound reason, have this constant need to be approved of. The author argues that egocentric fallacy, the belief that society always care about the private information of others, is of little consequence in today’s modern

Today, as a means of defending citizens, the government takes frequent peeks into the daily lives of its people to ensure no threats are made against the country. Plotz defends the government’s actions to maintain the safekeeping of the nation, stating that “lack of privacy actually tends to fight crime, not cause it” (A-25). Still, that “lack of privacy” works through a one-way system. The information of the general public is open to various American federations for use, but as for the secrets of the government, they are kept as the most confidential data in the nation. Although the leaders of the country are right to hide information on the basis of ensuring the safety of the citizens, there is information they keep stowed away in order to prevent an uproarious rebellion. Such a dramatic response could lead to a possibly dangerous shift in power, and the fall of the entire democracy. The American government is trying to protect its people, but in reality, it is only evoking a defiant response with detrimental consequences. The idea that one’s private information must be secure at all costs has swept the globe and has inspired a hysteria of ludicrous terror, according to writer David Plotz in his essay “Privacy in Overrated”. Yet, there are valid reasons on why such a terror is not absurd, but practical. A totalitarian society is possibly at hand, and a lack of privacy unquestionably constitutes such an Orwellian