Sunday, March 14, 2010

Creepy, or not?

Dystopian novels are fairly popular, right? Pretties, Crashed, Hunger Games...All of them, pretty popular. All of them, pretty amazing. (Who am I kidding. I love them all. Hunger Games is my favorite book of pretty much ever.)
However. It's kind of interesting to me how we get to that point. Most novels don't deal with the actual happening that changes society. I mean, sure--an evil bug. An uprising. But what led to that point? Are we at that point now?
It's kind of a weird reason to blog, I guess, but it's something I've been wondering about lately because of a very stupid reason; cameras.
Now, in Missouri, we used to have Red Light Cameras. If you ran a red light, you got a ticket, no matter if there was a police man. The camera just took your picture. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Traffic_light_red.png
Yup. It's the all seeing Traffic Light.
To me, that seems normal. I mean, if you don't do anything, what does it matter? That seems to be the overwhelming consensus of my generation.
However.
People older than us FREAKED.
In fact, now, the cameras are gone.
On another side, my school is rigged with all sorts of cameras. Over a hundred, at least, and I think it might be closing in on two hundred. They're there to keep us safe. Again . . . That seems normal to me. But on another level, it is mildly creepy--we are monitored on every level. Sure, it keeps us safe. I've had several teachers who absolutely despise this practice, though, because it's ... Well, kind of creepy.
If you aren't doing anything wrong, logic says we shouldn't mind. It really doesn't bug me that much. I read a dystopian book the other day that follows this thread, though; a generational change.
(This is NOT a 'World is going to end' post. I'm just musing.)
So. What do you think? Do these-
-http://07205.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/971600_lg.jpg
Bother you?
Or, as in my case--does it seem weird that you aren't bothered?
Anyway, I'll have a book review up tomorrow.

5 comments:

Kendra Logan said...

I feel the same way you do--to a point. I'm a huge believer in freedom and privacy, but in public areas like schools and traffic lights, I'm totally okay with it.

~Kendra

Sam said...

Yeah, I know what you mean. It actually didn't even occur to me to be bothered until everyone threw such a fit. It seems kind of normal; more safe, I guess.

mo said...

Eh, it's not that big of a deal to me. Yes, when I start thinking about it, it is mildly creepy and now I'm probably going to be paranoid, but until now it didn't bother me. :)

Sam said...

Hah, it wasn't to me either. Then my mom said something and creeped me out. Well, her and like, four different teachers, all within a week of each other.

Unknown said...

I have no problem with cameras in public areas. I only have a problem when they're put in houses and locker rooms. :(