and yet another 2nd place winner
A perfect society
is one in which should have exultant citizens, fair and just laws, the
freedom of choice, and always having a feeling of security and privacy.
So far there is no place on earth that exhibits a perfect society but
many try to obtain one by creating laws, restrictions, and the use of
reinforcements. In the year 2054 in Washington D.C. they take this idea
to an improvable level. In cutting down their homicide rate to zero,
the Department of Pre-Crime has denied the people of the choice to change
their minds, they took away the feeling of privacy, and turned their
headquarters into a Big Brother center of operations. It is legal to
arrest somebody for a crime he/she has yet to commit? Is the monitoring
of people's lives and unfair invasion of privacy? Does Pre-Crime resemble
a high-tech version of the all-seeing Big Brother of Orwell's "1984"?
In this new homicide stopping they have a trio, pre-cogs, who foresee
murder before it happens. This allows the Pre-Crime squad to intervene
and stop the homicide before it is actually committed. The supposed
murderer is then put in jail. Is that at all fair? No it's not. America
prides itself on being able to allow its citizens to make choices and
change choices in their pursuit of happiness. Arresting someone for
a "future" murder is completely ludicrous. Would they have
actually gone through with it? Was this their absolute fate that the
trio foresaw or would they have changed their minds and gone down another
path? With no crime yet committed theses questions will never be answered.
The Department should always have a strong reason for an arrest maybe
like a fingerprint, the weapon used to kill, and maybe even a body.
They have absolutely no basis for arrests but scenes for what the future
ultimately has to be as predicted but the pre-cogs.
Privacy is being able to secretly go away for the weekend, to hop onto
the subway as just another face in the crowd, and to have the freedom
to keep information to yourself. In the case of the Pre-Crime Department
theses statements have absolutely no meaning. They know where you are
and where you have been throughout you day by retinal scanning. Everywhere
you go there are scanners, they can recognize you and learn who you
are within minutes, before hopping on a subway or walking into a building,
they scar your eyes and identify you. It's just like having a stalker
that you can't escape. The scary thing about it is that the stalkers
are the police. The minute you are assumed to commit a homicide the
police put on their jet packs and zoom toward you to make their arrest.
When they need to scour the area for a potential murderer they set out
their arachnoid probes to scan people's eyes. No matter where you are
or what you're doing these spider like gadgets will find you. Imagine
being in a most intimate moment and then an arachnoid probe barges in
and scans you. Your life is put on hold and laid out on the table for
everyone to see. It is no longer confidential or private. An unfair
invasion of privacy? More like an unmerited attack on your life.
George Orwell man have written "1984," in order to show us
that every society has it's ups and downs and that no matter how hard
you work to keep the society perfect, there will always be flaws. The
Pre-Crime Department's attempt at having a crime free state is an exact
replica of Orwell's ideas in his book. The only difference is the time
period, location and the technology used, the Department uses higg0tech
gadgets that allows them to see the visions of homicide produced by
the pre-cogs. In this way the Department will always have its eyes on
you. The lesson to be learned from George Orwell's "1984"
is that an "ideal" of having a "utopian" society
will never really work. So why try? Thanks to the Pre-Crime Department
they've obtained a homicide free state that, in turn, strips away freedom
of choice, accuses people if murders not yet committed, invades people's
privacy, and watched your every move. Having a homicide rate at zero
is definitely a good thing but the price that people have to pay for
it is too much. In more simpler words, the people have lost more than
they have gained.
Life is full of surprises. That's what makes it so exciting. If everyone
knew what was going to happen in their lives it would just be like acting
out a play. We don't live in a perfect society and frankly I don't think
we ever will. Yes, there are murders, shootings, and robberies that
take place but if there are so many crimes committed then why won't
people just hide out in their homes? The thing is, for every crime committed
there are thousands more "happy" moments like a wedding or
a first kiss taking place. It's not fair to just focus on the negative
side of things and then make people pay for it. Sure there will be less
anxiety on the street if murder was reduced to zero but think about
all the consequences of that. We the people will be the ones who have
to pay they ultimate price of freedom and privacy. America is the land
of the free and home of the brave. We should be free enough to have
a choice and brave enough to face the penalties of the wrong choices.
"It is possible to provide security against other ills, but as
far as death is concerned, we men live in a city with no walls."-Epicurus.
By: Roseann
C.