How far are you willing to go to be safe? Is ignorance strength? If you had a choice between privacy and security which would you choose? In the book 1984, written by George Orwell, one of his main points is government control. 1984 was written as a prediction to the future, an anti-utopia novel. Although Orwell wrote this book in 1948, there are an incredible amount of connections between the book and the present day.
             Even though our world may not be as extreme as Oceania's, Orwell's fears are beginning to come true. On October 26, 2001, the United States passed the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act allows the FBI to monitor everything from e-mail, medical records, and library accounts, providing frightening access to once private information. The U.S. can now legally wiretap phones, break into homes and offices, and access financial records without any court involvement. Does this sound familiar? After reading this, I couldn't help but think about Orwell's telescreen, the thought police, and Winston's constant invasion of privacy. This is an example of how 1984 connects to the present day.
             After understanding what the Patriot Act does the next question one would ask is why is this a bad thing? If you are not doing anything wrong why should you be concerned? One way of answering these questions would be to think of what these initial "safety precautions" can lead to in the future. Although wiretapping may be minor freedom to let go, this may lead to something larger such as cameras in every bodies house. Small sacrifices of our freedom lead to larger ones. As we saw in 1984, the government completely controlled people's lives by listening and watching what they were doing.
             In both the book and in the U.S., the government uses fear to achieve their goals. In 1984 the government got control of the people, by using fear they were able to set restrictions on what the people do or even think. They did this by keeping the people parano...