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**__Is the Government too Powerful, are People safe?__**
"I can't go underground for a year, ten years, my whole life, waiting for freedom to be handed to me. Freedom is something you have to take for yourself"(Doctorow ). When people realize that they are being stripped of their constitutional rights, they take actions to get them back and live their life again. Two characters from the books //1984// by George Orwell and //Little Brother// by Cory Doctorow, go against government to gain their humanity back. When //Little Brother's// main character, Marcus, is targeted for suspicion of bombing Bay Bridge, he is taken into custody of the DHS and questioned then tortured. He knows this is unjust and tries everything to stop it; like letting a local writer in on the story to stop any further abuse. In //1984//​, the main character Winston lives in a purely communistic society. In this society there are telescreens in every place possible to allow their leader, Big Brother, to watch their every move. There is also a group called the Thought Police that monitors their thoughts and makes sure they don't think against the government. Winston gets fed up with all the rules and finds a friend to break the rules with. He is eventually caught and put in a drunken state to agree with and love Big Brother. In //Little Brother// and //1984//, each author portrays similar thoughts on how technology is used to intimidate citizens, how technology violates civilians privacy and how people's rights ulitmately have to come before public safety.

In both books, the authors write about how the technology is used to watch what the citizens do every minute of everyday. People in today's society feel safe and act accordingly, but what they don't know are the measures taken to achieve this sense of safety. People live their lives however they want, but when the truth behind the government is revealed they become more skeptical about what they do. In //Little Brother// the DHS uses the most common technology like cell phones and computers to track the people and when Marcus discovers this he becomes uncomfortable and needs it to stop. In //1984//, the government uses telescreens to watch the people every minute of their lives. "There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." (Orwell 3) Winston finds this invading and starts to rebel. A lot of citizens have found out the extreme measures security goes to and strongly disagrees, this only shows how far they are going. Security not only keeps people "safe" but puts others in danger. The security doesn't always suspect people because of warrants but because of how they look and act. The people that are targeted most these days are those who look middle eastern and occasionally teenagers and technologically savvy people. In //1984//, the people that they make "unpersons" are those who act or think suspiciously. "People simply disappeared, always during the night. Your name was removed from the registers, every record of everything you had ever done was wiped out, your one-time existence was denied and then forgotten. You were abolished, annihilated: vaporized was the usual word."( Orwell 19). In //Little Brother// the people that are unsafe are those who use technology and things with the ability to be tracked, often and "unregularly". "Abnormal is so common, it's practically normal".(Doctorow) It is not fair and unconsitutional to suspect innocent people and make their lives miserable because of misconception. It's not just making others unsafe but it makes people feel intimidated. Intimidation not only causes insecurities in people, but causes them to take actions. When people are intimidated by a higher source it may cause them to revolt to regain their rights and privacy. Marcus not only feels intimidated but violated and goes to extremes of taking down the government to get his rights back. Winston, on the other hand, breaks the rules of the society. One would think that when people start revolting that the security would loosen up, but they don't seem to have the same thoughts. Cory Doctorow and George Orwell both write about how citizens are affected by the strong security and how the affects lead to actions to regain what they deserve.

In these two books, characters such as Marcus and Winston clearly show their emotions towards being violated. People's rights are based on the Constitution and when people's Constitutional rights start getting taken away a sense of violation and uncomfortability sets in. In //Little Brother//, the DHS tracks Marcus' subway use and when they talk to him about it is when he realizes that they are literally watching him. Marcus becomes very unsettled.Why is it that people insist on invading others lives? Does it satisfy their [|need for power] ? In //1984//, it is very apparent that the people are being watched but Winston seems to be the only one stirred up about it. The DHS, interrogates Marcus and his friends to get anything and everything out of them just to detain them longer and in //1984// the government keeps Winston in room 101 until he tells them what they want to hear all to just achieve a sense of accomplishment.Is this what the world is coming to? Being sabotaged is never well liked among anyone and sometimes someone needs to be let in on it. "They drugged me, when I wouldn't stop screaming for a lawyer." (Doctorow 352) "He trembled and squeezed his eyes shut, 'Im sorry' he whispered and turned his face away" (Doctorow 352). Ange and Darryl didn't know what to do after Marcus found them, but tell what happened and cry. Someone can't just sit there and put up with the mental and physical tolls of torture, but when it has happened for an extended amount of time, someone just doesn't know what to do anymore. When Marcus is let out and he tells his parents about what happened and what is going on, they bring it to a journalist to let the world know what happens behind what the eye can see. Winston on the other hand, is fed up with his government but in his society everyone is brainwashed and there really isn't anyone to tell. Why hold things in when all that is garaunteed to come crashing down? People should be able to live their lives to the fullest and say what they want to, but is is nearly impossible when people are being violated.

Marcus and Winston are both put in societies where public safety is more important than human rights and it most definitely should be the other way around. It is not fair to the humans to be second on a list to government policies. The bottom line for all society is that the rights of the people need to be respected on a higher level. In //Little Brother//, the government takes too much pride in themselves and uses their technology in a negative way. In //1984//, the communist government needs to understand that there are other people besides the government in the world and they need to live too. In today's society there is more than enough technology to bring the country to the state in //Little// Brother, but not say the point of communism and being watched all the time. Governments tend to have a sense of selfishness in their ways and they need to step back and think of things for the greater good of the population. Power over someone or something should never get to the point of abuse. In //Little Brother// the DHS waterboards Marcus, drugs Ange, and beats Darryl. There is no way that this had any moral or any valid reason to happen. [|What] drove these people to such sick and twisted ways? People should have the common sense to know that something is wrong when the only resort for government work is torture. It is amazing that people underestimate the power of others. It will be a sad day when the government gets to this point. People are more capable of what people may think and capabilities should never be overlooked. There are many ways of limiting citizens thoughts and actions but it should never get to the point where violence sets in. To make sure that this does not result in today's society the line between security and privacy needs to not be crossed. The day when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will be at peace. Hopefully the society will take this turn.

Cory Doctorow, the author of //Little Brother// seemed to have written a modern day //1984// written by George Orwell but in modern times; still both opened up thoughts about the technology used to repress citizens, how it may have violated the privacy and sense of safety and the ultimate fact that public safety comes after human rights. In society today there is that scary possibility of being overtaken by technology and governmentbecause there are enough resources in the world that this is possible. The government needs to work things outmedia type="youtube" key="-jPIu4Ha-xo" height="81" width="151" so the country does not get to this dramatic state. Is the society safe? As far as the eye can see yes, but anything can happen.

Works Cited

Doctorow, Cory //Little Brother//, New York: Tom Doherty Associates, 2008.

Orwell, George //1984//, New York: New American Library, 1950.

Googleimages.com, "Freedom Picture", Feb 18, 2010

Youtube.com, "I Have a Dream", Feb 18, 2010

Government Article, Feb 18, 2010. [],

Abuse Article, 18 Feb 2010. http://www.mentalhelp.net/poc/view_doc.php?type=doc&id=8482