Twelve Mark Question
How does Orwell manage to make surveillance seem a negative thing?
Morrison makes the passage very negative by giving a one sided argument against the multitude of surveillance cameras. He shows his personal views giving the impression of negativity as this is the only source of feeling towards that particular person. ‘Made by a sinister Minister of Internal Repression.’ Using the shocking story of the suicide on BBC News tries to persuade the reader that surveillance is used as cruel bait for prime time television for the rest of the nation to gawp at this man’s final moments. The only argument (which is trying to give the reader little reason to decide if it is justifiable) against the passages main approach is written to explain furthermore the corruptness of CCTV. He states the Data Protection Act is a false veil that the government has given out as an attempt to show their information is valued. However this is not the case as Morrison says, it leaves the person with a bad record. ‘If you exercise this right you may find it difficult to get a job, credit card or a mortgage.’ This is also a rule of three to emphasise how many problems this can cause you.
Morrison uses the size and control surveillance cameras have over our society as a negative remark. He uses many words to emphasise how already they are entering our own personal lives. Using the word ‘enormous’ shows the seriousness and intention of what he thinks the government are trying to do and should not be taken for a small thing ‘stored in enormous databases.’
Morrison greatly plays into the emotions of the reader. When Morrison says ‘employers routinely tap the phones’ it is suggesting that our privacy is easily accessed by authority without any real difficulty. This plays to our emotion for the need of privacy and seclusion of information that we don’t want a complete stranger