Big Brother Is in the House!

by Pa Rock
Kibitzer

A couple of evenings ago as I was trying to trace some of my ancestors through the backwoods of Tennessee and Kentucky, I thought of how convenient it would be to have a two-state map of the area, say circa 1850, and large enough that I could find the remote communities that my forebears had called home, at least temporarily, as they migrated West.  I’ve had some luck at finding specific maps before at Amazon.com, so I took my business there.

And sure enough I found the perfect item – a two-by-three-foot reproduction of Tennessee and Kentucky that was published in 1850.  And the price of $12.95 (shipping included) could not be beaten with an old hickory stick.  I banged in the order on my trusty computer before Amazon could change its mind – or raise the price!

And the order was confirmed, lickety-split.  But before I could navigate away from Amazon, that crafty on-line retailer decided that since I was already at its site, it might as well try to get some more of my retirement income.  My grandson, three-year-old Sully has two big interests in life:  excavators and dinosaurs.  Amazon suddenly confronted me with an image of a child’s tee-shirt featuring a large piece of earth-moving equipment and the caption “See You Later, Excavator!”  

And how in the heck could I not buy that?  But then, again before I could get away, a pair of little-man pajamas featuring a roaring dinosaur popped up – so I bought those, too!  As I was checking out with Sully’s order, Amazon wanted to know where to send my purchases.  I have probably thirty different addresses on file with that company that have accumulated over the years, but the slick retailer put two options in front of me:  Did I want to send the clothing items to my home – or to Sullivan Macy?  Amazon knew the person for whom I was shopping – of course, it did!

Can you imagine what it would be like to walk into a Walmart or a JC Penney and have a greeter hand you exactly what you came in for, and then lead you to a couple of items that were also “must” haves?

Amazon, of course, analyzes each and every order that I place, and it also looks at everything else that others have purchased for each person on my address list, and then it has a scary working knowledge of items that would appeal to me, the shopper, whenever I show up at its site.

That’s power.  That’s my life under the firm guidance of an outside force intent on selling me as much as possible.   That’s Big Brother elbowing his way through my life – and I invited him through the internet.

Amazon's "Prime" streaming service informs its parent company of the programs that I enjoy watching - and Amazon's  "Alexa" reports on my music preferences - and God knows what else that she is apt to overhear while constantly eavesdropping in my home!

Amazon is plugged into my life and knows exactly how to entice me into making purchases.

And then there is Google, a service that carefully reads and analyzes all of my email traffic.  If I even hint to Cousin Brad in Boise that I would like to go to the South Pacific someday, I will start receiving pop-up ads featuring travel deals to Bora Bora and Tahiti.   Google ferrets out my deepest desires and then sells that information to the appropriate retailers who, in turn, target me through ads on Google. It’s a racket, one that I have invited into my home.

There is no rest for the guy with a dollar in his pocket!

And our government is also a player in this massive in-home spying program.  There was a story in the news this week about a foreign student who had been admitted to Harvard.  The lad was, however, denied entry into the United States due to some concerns regarding social media postings.  It turns out that he didn’t even make the postings that flagged his travel to the United States – some of his friends had!

Now we are suddenly responsible for what our friends are thinking and posting!

Bureaucrats employed by world governments are reading blogs, examining tweets, scouring Facebook –and making lists and checking them twice.

Free speech, it would seem, comes with a cost.

I’m glad that Sully will soon be wearing the coolest tee-shirt ever, but I am very worried about the ultimate price that we all will be paying for living in a “modern” world.

"1984" has come and gone, but Big Brother has finally arrived and may be around for a long time to come, whether we want him to be or not.  Today he needs us to function, but scientists and researchers are predicting that within the next thirty years computers will capable of complete independent thought and action.  At that point it may be humanity that gets unplugged!

But I digress . . .

See you later, Excavator!