In the book 1984, by George Orwell, the Big Brother, aka the government, is oppresses the citizens of Oceania through spying on them, monitoring every second of their lives, and controlling them through threats and by using this surveillance. The illiberal government in this novel imposes what would be harsh violations of several of the rights Americans have such as their privacy, independence, and freedom. The citizens in the novel are strippe of their all individualism because of Big Brother’s negative influence in their lives. Big Brother justifies that spying on its citizens helps everyone as a group and is necessary for everyone. Today the NSA (National Security Agency) has a striking resemblance to Big Brother as both justify spying with “security” and the “benefit” of the people. As the presence of the NSA spying on citizens becomes more common the possibility of this future draws closer and more realistic. The public’s safety should always be a constant to strive for, but stealing the rights, freedom, and privacy of people should not be a sacrifices made to ensure this. To prevent a travesty, such as …show more content…
In spying on its citizens America would be enabling the abuse of citizens through controlling their actions exploiting their lives. A way this could be observed is by bugging phones to listen in on conversations. “We must not ignore the costs to liberty and privacy of intercepting phone calls and other electronic communications”, (Posner 2). Although public safety is a concern, the greater threat comes from denying citizens their rights and protecting them from tyrannical leaders. First citizens will lose their independence, then they will be stripped of their freedom by restraining their actions. Freedom and independence, the cornerstones of America, should not be sacrificed for unlikely threats that hardly ever