"If you realize that that's the world that you helped create and its going to get worse with the next generation and the next generation, to extend the capabilities this sort of architectural oppression, you realize that you might be willing to accept any risk no matter what the outcome is so long as the public makes their own decision about how that is applied" -Edward Snowden, Hong Kong.
Many people focus on the censorship of news and public information, but until Snowden, not many realized that they had to worry about their own private information being spied on and censored. In V for Vendetta the government is (with the exception of a few extremely well kept and well fronted secrets), all knowing. They reserved the right to spy and collect information on all of their citizens by claiming that it was a matter of national security. However far fetched the idea of such a modern dystopian society is, we have seen this type of behaviour happen in the United States before. After 9/11, President Bush passed the Patriot Act and established the United States Department of Homeland Security, in order to spy on 'potential terrorists'. This was exactly the type of political action and abuse the author of the novel V for Vendetta warned about. This is exactly the world that Edward Snowden has exposed, and whether he did it for informational purposes or to undermine the authority of the government, he has ultimately left it up to the citizens to decide what to do with their government.
I completely agree with your idea of censorship and I found it very interesting how you informed us on how Bush established the idea of censorship as well. it creates more of a personal connection to the characters in the film. To contribute to this idea, I also know that the government regulates most phone calls and text messages and emails to protect the country, but isn't that an invasion of privacy? Thus reiterating the authority and censorship coming from the government.
ReplyDeleteHeard about what happen to him and I agree, his action should be judge by the people but instead the government is going to do what ever to silence him. Some say he a hero other a traitor to the country but hey everyone entitle to their opinion.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Snowden did the right thing by speaking out against the U.S. The U.S. is taking it too far and they are taking peoples freedoms away and if I were in his situation I would do the same thing. Our government feels like they can do whatever they want as long as it benefits the government and that's wrong.
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