Government Spying Unacceptable, Threatens American Liberty

Trevor Neely Opinions Columnist | Sociology sophomore

The government has been infringing on privacy rights for the past 100 years, and the past 13 have only gotten worse.

The post 9/11 terrorist frenzy has driven most American citizens into a mass hysteria of fear. This notion that America is a hunting ground for terrorists has been growing since that sunny day in the fall of 2001. Granted, what happened in New York was devastating to a high degree, but the mentality of Americans today is completely lopsided.

Today there has been an emergence of subtle racism against anyone with slightly darker skin and an Islamic background. With this fear and racism comes a great deal of ignorance that has infiltrated the American culture. Where there is a growing ignorance in the people, there is a government just waiting to take advantage.

This brings us to 2014, where not only are we still in a “war on terror,” but we are sadly in a war on domestic freedom and liberty. The documents released by former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden revealed what the government has been doing to the American people. The NSA deliberately infiltrated the American public’s private phone records.

Snowden has since fled the country and is being charged for espionage by the U.S. government. Espionage in a criminal context is a crime of gathering secret information with the intent of releasing it to the enemy. Snowden only gave this information to the American people, so apparently the government sees its citizens as the enemy.

When people found out about this unwarranted spying, many of them were outraged. According to an Oct. 15 USA Today article, 54 percent of people said they disapproved of the National Security Agency’s mass collection of millions of Americans’ phone records. Unknowingly, these people have been giving their information up to an organization that feeds on their fears.

There is no justification for this mass spying by the government. The right to privacy is being taken away on a daily basis, and many people are unaware or do not care to know. We are living in a crucial time in history. The government has become something to fear rather than something to build and improve upon.

This overbearing power the government has given itself, can come to a halt if the people begin to make a change and become aware of the false-flag fear tactics that are placed in our country. The generation of today has the power to change things for the future. Texas State students, for example, could stage protests and start movements for change.

We, as students of higher education, can make an impact like no other if we begin to take the initiative and become pioneers for a better future. The time is now to make this change. Many people need to ask themselves if they would rather live their lives as sheep or take their place like lions. 

Trevor Neely is an Opinion Columnist with the University Star where this column originally published. It is reprinted here through a news paprtnership between the University Star and the San Marcos Corridor News.