Big Brother Society

What’s to an institution without rules? I believe the best word to describe that is, chaos. Throughout our lives we have learned to obey and follow a set list of rules in school, family life, as well as with the law and society. However, there are some individuals out there who do disregard all of these rules that are provided in order to have more peaceful surroundings which is why our society enforces such regulations. Without the government, interfering with American’s lives, how safe would we really be? And how far is too far?

In Josh McHugh’s report, “Politics for the Really Cool,” he explains how libertarian Sameer Parekh is using software as his weapon against the government. This is also known as, cryptography. Cryptography comes in handy and efficient for someone who cannot afford to leave around a paper trail (McHugh 436). In other words, if a business man doesn’t want to pay his income taxes, then he can avoid the IRS knocking on his door by using this. To me, this is unfair. I find it absurd that they sell such programs on the internet. While all of us normal, honest Americans are paying our income taxes every year, many individuals keep that cash in their pockets. How greedy can some people be? Walter Wriston, a former chairman of Citibank, wrote in his 1992 book, The Twilight of Sovereignty to the history of cryptography (McHugh 436). He believed that this could potentially cause a weakening of national governments through the power the technology and cryptography. Honestly, why weaken our government? Our government in my eyes is here to protect us and keep everything in working order so we can have a safe and sound sleep every night. I feel like there are several individuals out there who take this the wrong way and feel like our government is “out to get us,” which is completely false. Without a government, we would have no structure in our society whatsoever.

I can see where some individuals get the mindset of our government interfering too much with our everyday lives. A lot of our entertainment in movies and shows are centered on the idea of a “big brother” society. We all have that fear, but who ever said it could get to that point? The only reason there are such revisions in our government is because of certain events, like terrorist attacks. I honestly feel so much better at the end of the day knowing that our government is enforcing laws in order to prevent such tragedies and horror happening again. I can give up a little bit of my own privacy in order to save thousands of lives. Now, if the government happens to increasingly invade my everyday life, then that could be a problem, but for now I do not see that happening in the near future. John McHugh’s article was written well over a decade ago but he actually raised the question of where the 21st century would be at. Well, we’re in the 21st century now and I don’t feel much different. Maybe I would if I was a criminal, but I’m not. All in all, individuals need to realize that our governments sole purpose is to keep our society running safe and smoothly, not to invade our lives.