Politics and Culture

Government, power, and society. Three things that must coexist in complete balance, so
as to keep society functioning properly. You may ask what happens if one of three things
becomes off balance, the answer is threatening and uncertain. If the government gains more
power than society things can take a turn for the worst. In this essay, I will dive deep into two
dystopian novels where each convey what can happen if this unbalance in power did occur. In
the novel Divergent, the author, Veronica Roth, provides a clear picture into one of the possible
outcomes of giving the government too much power over society. In the Novel The Circle, the
author, Dave Eggers, creates a scene where a huge tech company holds too much power over
society. Not only is society under the influence of this company, so are the employees. The
employees are forced to be involved in the company in most ways no other job would demand
from their employees. In my interpretation of the story, the tech company in the novel
symbolized a government. My main quest within this essay is to learn what the true detrimental
outcomes high power governments have on the society and why it is so easy for society to
conform to the powerful government without a fight.

Throughout both The Circle and Divergent, the lack of privacy from the government
constantly watching is a huge theme. The big tech company in The Circle provided the public
access to a “full transparent life” in which people were streamed 24 hours of the day 7 days a
week. The company advertises this full transparent lifestyle to be a much better way to live
because they claim crime rates have gone down because people are constantly under
surveillance. Criminals can be found in a very short amount of time using the technology. So,
this seems like a perfect world right? Not quite. The implications of the loss of privacy are far
greater than the benefits. The tech company is asking people to give up every part of themselves
and display it for people to judge and tear apart. Mae, the main character, who agrees to this full
transparency lifestyle, often becomes depressed in the novel because some day's people on the
internet are more critical than she would like. Therefore, comments about her personal life did
affect her deeply. This part of her society is very realistic because this already happens today in
our society, most people say “the number one rule to social media is to never read the
comments” this is because typically people find it very easy to write negative comments behind a
computer or phone screen. This hits a little too close to home when thinking about social media
and how the government has complete access to what is posted and what we are searching. This
idea of full transparency could be a possibility in our near future. The technology in our world
can easily become what this movie is portraying. Devices like Google Home and Amazon Alexa
are top sellers even when the public is aware of the invasion of privacy. There have been many
instances where the Amazon Alexa has made headlines in the news for admittedly listening in on
people's conversations. There is only one positive in the case of a crime police can find useful
evidence that the Alexa overheard, but the negatives to the invasion of privacy definitely
outweigh the bad. So, what is going to stop it? And why are people okay with “Alexa” listening
in on every move we make. After research, I believe this is because most people would rather
have the convince that technology provides over their privacy it takes away. Society is willing to
give the government a piece of their privacy in order to have technology that performs tasks that
make everyday life more convenient and easy. This could lead

to a situation in which the government gets out of hand with the invasion of our privacy
through surveillance. Since the attack on 9/11, the government forcibly took away some privacy
and society agreed, the NSA started warrantless wiretapping on parties they believed to be a
terrorist threat. In 2013, ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden released databases containing
information from the illegally obtained wiretaps. For US citizens, this recent story has increased
feelings that the government is watching, causing people to feel as if their privacy is being
invaded. Although the reason behind the invasion of privacy was because the NSA was looking
for terrorism, most people did not agree with having their privacy being taken away from them
without consent. This is where Divergent is similar, the government in the novel has majority of
the power, if not all, in the society where everyone is fit into factions. These factions are
influenced so much by the government the people are made to believe they belong in the factions
more than their own families. The idea of complete government surveillance is implemented in
this dystopian world where every person has a tracking device implanted in them. There are
some people who are born with the ability to fit into all five of the factions the government
created, these people were called divergent. Tyris is one of those people, this causes a huge
threat to the government because the divergent cannot be controlled and confined to one group of
people. This government abuses its power by instilling fear into their people, and they do this by
immediately executing anyone who steps out of their position and goes against them. This idea
can also be compared to The Circle where if employees do not follow under their strict company
regulations they will be fired. Both of these movies and all of this information falls way too close
to home for me. Maybe the government will not have the whole nation divided into five factions
and control what I do for a living within the next 20-30 years, but I do believe within that time it
is a very real possibility that the government will have full surveillance over us and every thing
we say or do.

The relationship in which government and society share power must be balanced and
equal in order to maintain a fair environment in which we live. If there is too much power on one
side, society cannot function properly. For example, if there is too much power in the
government there is no freedom within society and if the people have too much power the
government will most likely be overthrown causing chaos. As people we need freedom to be an
individual, but on the other hand we need government to keep the peace and create a sense of
order within the community. The novel The Circle, written by Dave Eggers, created a society
where people lived completely transparent with zero rights to their own privacy. Similarly, the
novel Divergent, written by Veronica Roth, imagined a society where government had complete
control and access to every action of each person living in the society. In the end of both novels
the higher power, whether it is the government or huge corporation, both were taken down by the
protagonist and proven to be corrupt. If this happens to our world will there be a real life
protagonist to save us all from the government control? Or are we all going to conform like most
of society already has with the new advancements in technology and government rule?

Works Cited

Chokshi, Niraj. “Is Alexa Listening? Amazon Echo Sent Out Recording of Couple's
Conversation.” ​The New York Times​, The New York Times, 25 May 2018,
www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/business/amazon-alexa-conversation-shared-echo.html.

“Surveillance, Cybersecurity, and the Future of Privacy in The Circle.” ​WeLiveSecurity​, 5

May 2017,
www.welivesecurity.com/2017/05/05/surveillance-cybersecurity-future-of-privacy-the-circle/.

Ullman, Ellen. “Ring of Power.” ​The New York Times,​ The New York Times, 1 Nov.
2013, ​www.nytimes.com/2013/11/03/books/review/the-circle-by-dave-eggers.html​.

Pilon, Roger, and Richard A Epstein. "NSA Surveillance in Perspective." ​Chicago

Tribune,​ (2013): 21.