Big Brother is Watching

March 27, 2009 kellyyoung

In today’s technologically advanced world, we see the government lean in ways that to some may seem very intrusive, but could it be for the betterment of society? I suppose time will only tell. I came across something in the New York Times that stated big brother was moving into cars. Not only can people be monitored by satellites circulating above the atmosphere but now we can me monitored in our very own vehicles.

“Mandatory breathalyzers in all vehicles is just one item in a veritable surveillance package that all drivers will be forced to accept if they wish to use America’s roads and highways. GPS tracking and taxation black boxes are being pushed to coincide with the construction of the NAFTA Superhighway, where all vehicles will be forced to use toll roads and will have their every movement catalogued by spy satellites in alliance with a massive centralized database. US citizens will be forced to adopt a de facto national identification card and have their freedom of mobility defined by behavioral fealty to the government under proposals set to derive from NAFTA superhighway toll road system and the implementation of the American Union. Biometric eye scanners that can detect tiredness and deny mobility if the system judges the driver to be fatigued are being proposed for individual vehicle use after being utilized by police in Australia. Proposals are in play to install surveillance cameras in all cars, especially in areas where legislation has been passed that bans the individual from smoking in their own car if a child is also present.”

All these things seem like they would be good for the wellbeing of society, but when does Big Brother start to cross the line? People start to feel like they lose privacy and feel like they are criminals or terrorist and it isn’t fair to assume people will be law breakers.“This echoes Foucault’s insistence that whenever power is exercised there is likely to be resistance to it. Baudrillard describes the globe itself as resisting the hegemonic domination that globalizing capitalism attempts to establish” (Strangelove, 207). In The Empire of Mind we come to realize that people will always have a problem with authority based on that fact that it takes away for their mobility and freedom as individuals but the thing is the government is trying to impose laws that make the world a safer place, so society needs to see how it all plays out.

Just think back a few decades ago when there weren’t any stop lights, imagine the chaos…

Entry Filed under: New Age Media,Social Commentary,Technology

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