MLA 9 Format – Essay is started but I am out of time to finish. Still needs an intro, some filler, proofreading, and a conclusion.
Thesis: The FBI and CIA have been showing the same tendencies that Big Brother showed in 1984 and may be on the path to totalitarianism
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In George Orwell’s dystopian novel, “1984” (start of intro?)
In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, mass surveillance plays a big role in the society’s structure; in this case, surveillance is happening on a mass level. In the book, the government is called “The Party” or ”Big Brother,” and it monitors the entirety of its population. One of the biggest surveillance tactics was to use telescreens, first seen when Winston was in his living quarters; “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment.” (1984 3). Telescreens were a two-way device that monitored people’s every word and move, and they were everywhere. It was The Party’s way of ensuring that people acted in the way they wanted them to, or in other words, that people didn’t act out against the party. This can be similarly connected to how our government monitors to prevent anti-government activities. In Big Brother’s case, it kept people in line; they would be arrested or even killed for acting out of place. In American society, the CIA isn’t as forthright with its monitoring. People don’t often think about the fact that their phones– or other electronic devices– could be listening in on them, maybe even watching them. Those who do are often branded as a heretic, paranoid, or outright crazy. However, the CIA has its waysto keep a hidden eye on people, for example, the “Weeping Angel” hack. This hack was implemented on Smart TVs, which made it so it appear as if the TV was off while CIA were recording the surrounding environment through its built-in microphone. (Hollister) people only became aware about this because the information got leaked. (add more stats, dates, evidence) The CIA may have more secrecy than Big Brother, hiding their activities to prevent paranoia, but it is very possible for that to change as the world evolves. It can be a bit scary, not knowing what information the government is taking from us.
In the novel, information is collected from everyone. In Big Brother’s society, people no longer write, they instead use “speakwrites,”Winston entered the Ministry of Truth “Winston thought for a moment, then pulled the speakwrite towards him and began dictating in Big Brother’s familiar style: a style at once military and pedantic, and, because of a trick of asking questions and then promptly answering them (‘What lessons do we learn from this fact, comrades? The lesson—which is also one of the fundamental principles of Ingsoc—that,’ etc., etc.), easy to imitate.” (1984 46). The purpose of speakwrites was to (on the outside was to log information through speech to text, but in reality, it was a way to control the population)(the purpose was to monitor the population, to collect information on those who spoke in an unorthodox way.) . This means (better transition, try to fit the flow more. It helps to read it aloud and think,’how would I say this in a normal conversation?’) all information is spoken and easily recorded, either in person near a telescreen or through a speakwrite, this allowed for data to be collected and stored as proof to the party of someone’s “unorthodox” behavior In Modern day, , one would think that information, especially conversations and call logs, is private, secured away from the prying eyes of the government. However, over time, the FBI has slowly been drawing back the limits on what they can or should collect. In the Foreign Intelligence Act, section 702, the FBI are able to collect communications of American citizens simply because they are in contact with people abroad. This law is routinely exploited by the FBI to use American’s private conversations in domestic investigations. (Taitz) oftentimes, civil rights activists are targeted with this abuse. Including the time thirteen people were searched without proper reasoning and one hundred people were arrested in hopes of yielding foreign intelligence. American society is slowly involving to be like Big Brother’s, data collection is now reaching the same levels. Today, anyone and everyone could be spied on.
A topic often brought up in today’s society is whether the American government is reliable. But modern day isn’t the only occurrence of such a question, its been a question asked many times in the past such as during the World Wars and prior civil rights conflicts among many things. The FBI does not have the greatest track record of helping the government appear reliable, for example: the time of the Red Scare, a time when mass hysteria ran rampant through the common man. Thousands of innocent people were detained in the early 1920’s as suspected communists or spies, many of them being arrested false charges. The FBI couldn’t be trusted to catch the communists or anarchists when they repeatedly caught innocent people. In 1921, the FBI lost popularity when Mitchell Palmer, a higher-up at the time, initiated what was known as the “Palmer raids.” (Constitution Center) These raids were motivated by Palmer’s racist ideologies, leading many US immigrants to being detained or jailed. Similarly, Big Brother didn’t need solid proof of anything, any hint of suspicion could lead to someone’s arrest.
“(example of BB targeting minorities through data collection)”
Why would the US government be so scared of another system if it was as reliable as it claimed to be?
Focus on emotional aspect and how much fear people felt. I HAVE TO TURN THEM IN FIRST, OR THEY’RE GONNA GET ME! PSYCOLOGICAL WARFARE! THOUGHT POLICE! INCLUDE FEAR ALL OVER ESSAY, WE FEAR TOTALITARIANISM! AS A TOTALITARIANISM SOCIETY, BB…
Orwell, George. 1984. 1949. Toronto, Penguin Books Canada, 1949.
Taitz, Sarah. “Five Things to Know about NSA Mass Surveillance and the Coming Fight in Congress | ACLU.” American Civil Liberties Union, American Civil Liberties Union, 11 Apr. 2023, www.aclu.org/news/national-security/five-things-to-know-about-nsa-mass-surveillance-and-the-coming-fight-in-congress.
“On This Day, Massive Raids during the Red Scare | Constitution Center.” National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.org, constitutioncenter.org/blog/on-this-day-massive-raids-during-the-red-scare#:~:text=Edgar%20Hoover%2C%20what%20became%20known.
Gans, Jared. “FBI Repeatedly Misused Surveillance Tool, Unsealed FISA Order Reveals.” The Hill, 19 May 2023, thehill.com/policy/national-security/4012650-fbi-misused-surveillance-tool-fisa-section-702/.
Hollister, Sean. “Weeping Angel: Did the CIA Really Hack into TVs?” CNET, www.cnet.com/tech/home-entertainment/weeping-angel-hack-samsung-smart-tv-cia-wikileaks/.
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