Individual Freedom and Identity Development vs. National Security and Public Surveillance

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Individual Freedom and Identity Development vs. National Security and Public Surveillance
Governments around the world have often used radical means to control the masses. This is despite the fact that human rights and freedoms are enshrined in almost every constitution as well as being recognized in the international law. The lives of the others is a classic example of how a government can invade in the lives of its people. The movie is centered on classic exploitation and invasion of people in East German during the rule of GDR through constant surveillance. As seen in the in the movie The Lives of Others, government surveillance can arise due to insecurity of those in power. The Lives of Others depicts how the German Democratic Republic (GDR) through Stasi sought to control the lives of the people by monitoring their activities and changing their way of thinking. While much of the surveillance is done in secret and those being spied on remain largely ignorant, this action by the GDR regime amounted to an invasion in people’s life as a way of protecting its own power.
As society develops, sticking to traditional ways of doing things can lead to a number of problems. Being resilient and agile to new forces such as political, economic and social forces leads to positive outcomes for the society as a whole. The worldwide recognition and respect for human rights and freedoms is one such force that designed to improve relationships between people and the government. However, undermining this freedom and opting to stick to traditional practices where the government had sizable influence on the lives of the people will automatically lead to chaos. In a world of enlightenment, people have become increasingly aware of their rights and freedoms and are continuously pushing the government to respect these rights (Mering and McCarty, p. 30). Nevertheless, the fear that the government may not be able to control the public or that the public will not buy its policies leads to secret spy programs both within and outside the government. For example, in The Lives of Others, the government goes as far as spying on its own ministers such as in the case of Hempf.
Despite this, most governments have secret surveillance programs with the aim of spying on their own people and if need be control their mindsets and ...