Week 3 Essay1

Does Surveillance Make Us Morally Better?
By Emrys Westacott
Central Argument: Surveillance is ultimately a bad thing because it reduces the scope of people's moral consciences.

Spying. Probing. Big brother watching us. People often have strong feelings about surveillance, especially because of the issues with surveillance and the right to privacy. But, surveilance does discourage people from doing the wrong thing, perhaps providing some benefit for society. Emrys Westacott deals with this question in the article, "Does Surveillance Make Us Morally Better?" She argues that Surveillance is ultimately a bad thing because it reduces the scope of people's moral consciences. I believe that surveillance destroys morality because it destroys the ability people have to ascertain morals, learn from their own choices, and trust eachother.
When we are constantly watched, we forget the real and difficult choices we need to make, which can lead to a loss of all morals. For example, when people see a camera watching as they take a test, they know they can't cheat. But, if a camera is always watching when one takes a test, one soon forgets that cheating is a real possibility, losing the knowledge of understanding the choice one had in that situation. For example, in 1984, by George Orwell, Orwell creates a society where people are constantly watched to make sure their every actions support the rule of the government, called "The Party." These people, because they have been watched for so long, forget that they can do anything besides what they are supposed to, and basically become slaves to the rule of "The Party," a crazy empire that bases itself on hate and war. All the citizens love the country and worship the leader, "Big Brother." None of them even understands what revolution is. Surveillance can slowly rob us of the ability to think for ourselves and can lead to a loss of all morals, because people don't realize what are the right and wrong choices are when they can't think for themselves.
When people lose the ability to ascertain what choices they can make, they also lose the ability to learn from their choices. Some of the greatest lessons in life come from when one does the wrong thing and then learns a really important lesson. For example, John Newton, a former slave trader, realized how evil his actions had been and spent the rest of his life trying to atone for his mistakes. In addition, the novel Atonement, by Ewan McGregor, chronicles the painful lesson a girl learns after making a poor choice early on in life. Because surveillance slowly narrows the scope of thought one has about choices, the learning from the choices one makes begins to dissappear.
Finally, as surveillance narrows the scope of moral consciousness, we lose the ability to trust each other. In all good relationships, people need to trust each other. . Without trust, everyone becomes a stranger because no one seems to care about anyone as an individual. Orwell also deals with this in 1984, talking about families turning each other in to the government and people losing the ability to have any friends because every action is watched.
Surveillance ultimately robs people of their morals because it destroys the ability to think freely, a trait vital to having morality. The loss of that ability leads to all sorts of other consequences, like the loss of learning from mistakes and the loss of trust. Surveillance turns men into machines.