The watchers and the watched
October 22nd, 2008
The watchers and the watched
image: antonio martinez
In his dystopian polemic Nineteen Eighty Four, George Orwell described the nightmare of totalitarian society.
In the UK in 2008 we currently have almost eight million CCTV cameras monitoring our every move, from which lane we drive in to which street we walk down and everything that we do there. The argument for such a network has always been the same, if you’ve done nothing wrong you’ve got nothing to be worried about. Most UK citizens now are used to being monitored when they drive, filmed when they make a purchase and recorded as they open a door. Indeed it is estimated that if you are in an urban centre you could be filmed by an average of two hundred cameras in a day.
Who is watching all these feeds? Who is monitoring the screens and for what purpose? Petty villains have realised that all they have to do is wear a hat or pull their ‘hoody’ up and they are anonymous. Nothing has ever been prevented because of CCTV, occasionally it allows us to witness the antecedents of a particular incident but it is often inconclusive and in the case of some atrocity committed by a determined individual it is utterly irrelevant.
So we have given birth to the surveillance society, watchers and watched. In ancient mythology there is reference to the Nephilim or the Watchers, but these beings, magi, angels, call them whatever, are usually characterised by their illumination and benign disposition toward the human race.
We find ourselves being studied by people far less benign and dramatically less illumined. It creates a precedent and means that the concept of the private citizen or the private individual is eroding rapidly. We are allowing our fears to drive disproportionately the kind of societies we live in. Orwell spoke about thought-crime as the ultimate invasion of the integrity of the private individual, thinking the ‘wrong’ thoughts, thoughts that contradict the party line.
Any of the world’s thinkers will tell you that privacy is implicit to your well being, personal integrity is a paramount consideration. You were born alone, you will die alone. Reality TV shows and the exponential growth of the cult of celluloid exposure have made public spectacles of us all to the point where we take it for granted at a subliminal level that we are going to be filmed and watched.
It’s a slippery slope, the thin end of a wedge that will be justified with words like security and terror. There is a nasty habit of behavioural norms and laws to protect society from itself being implemented in haste and then staying on the statute books. When we have all forgotten what we were supposed to be filming each other for we will be left with a legacy of billions of CCTV cameras all over the world, all assuming that there will be some need to gather their evidence for consideration by a jury or worse. I’m reminded of Gil Scott Heron who told us that the revolution would not be televised; it seems that everything will be televised after all, including you scratching your backside.
Fundamental to our evolution as a species is the need to trust and communicate with each other. CCTV is just one example, there are others, of the gradual disintegration of those basic personal liberties.
Happiness? I suppose I feel an obligation to turn it to happiness in some way but it’s a no brainer really; I don’t understand how anyone could feel comfortable knowing that their personal integrity was being compromised for an as yet unproven utilitarian objective.
That’s my opinion, but remember, opinions are like a***holes, everybody’s got one.