I Don't Fear Government Surveillance, I Fear Citizen Surveillance

I've come to the conclusion that the government could care less about what I do and don't do as long as it is within the law. I have come to the conclusion that those I have to watch out for are my fellow citizens, most of whom have cameras on their phone and are happy to whip them out any chance they get to capture any indiscretion that they see people make. For some reason my fellow citizens seem to care a whole lot more about what I am doing than anyone in government.

Dash cams, cellphone cameras, doorbell cams, cameras EVERYWHERE! It's easy for anyone to take pictures and videos and quickly load them up to Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram or Youtube. Heck, people can even live stream so that viewers can get their fix of citizen surveillance immediately. So very convenient.

And, once these videos are up, you never know which ones will go viral. The more exciting, bizarre, interesting, funny or outraging, the better the chances are that within a few days millions can see what is happening in those videos.

We live in a world where, with the internet, the average person has more power than ever before. And with one video of a person experiencing a really bad day and something happening a life can be ruined.

Need an example? The recent case of a Holiday Inn employee who had a mental breakdown at work when he was pushed too far by a customer who took out a phone to record his unfortunate moment.

Sadly, the video ended up going viral because a prominent twitter jerk, Tariq Nasheed, decided in his infinite non-wisdom, to push the video and continue to make fun of the kid and sided with the young man taking the video. Even though the customer was pushing the poor hotel employee, apparently, that doesn't matter.

“I basically went viral because of my schizo-affective disorder documented by a rude customer at an establishment which I was employed. Why can’t people have basic human kindness and compassion for one someone obviously not sound?”

I am not going to post this video here because I find it extremely disturbing. I feel so horrible for the young man who had a very public meltdown and has been treated horribly because of it. As someone who has mental health issues and has my own public breakdowns, I can't bring myself to actually directly post it. You can see it in the link to this article about the incident from LGBTQ Nation. I ask you to not be judgmental of the young man who is suffering. And he truly did suffer.

Now, yes, there are times when the fact that there are seemingly privately owned cameras everywhere pays off. When they capture crime they offer evidence that can help bring about justice. And, you would think that because all these picture taking devices are everywhere that it would deter crime. But, people seem to go about criminal activities without even thinking of the hundreds of cameras out there.

But, the downside is that these cameras also give the ability to infringe on people's privacy. And, if you happen to be having a bad day and get pissed off at someone and say something nasty, you can be assured that there is someone waiting to capture it. People do get into scraps, altercations, say things in the heat of the moment and just generally have bad days and screw up. Now, more than ever, those bad moments can be recorded and stick around for eternity (or as long as the internet lasts) and can make you famous worldwide for all the wrong reasons.

Now, there are true surveillance states where the government is watching people and it is terribly concerning. However, in Canada, I don't feel in the slightest as if the government is watching me or really cares about what I am doing. And that is a great feeling. I like living in this society. There are those who won't agree with me and do genuinely fear the government. And there are probably things I SHOULD be rightly concerned about. But, personally, as I see all these cameras in private hands and the use of social media by citizens in order to broadcast to everyone a video or photo of anyone at their worst, and seldom at their best, is pretty scary.