Security Surveillance Wendy Kaminer

Pratik Birajdar

Professor Parker

LING 100

5th March 2017

Controversy Revolving Security Surveillance:

Comparing the Views of Wendy Kaminer and The Economist Security Surveillance Cameras are a major concern in the modern world for every person. They play a major role as it records everything and it keeps proof of what is going around. Civilians are extremely worried about how security surveillance has gone out of control and they feel threatened. Wendy Kaminer’s article, “Trading Liberty for Illusions” was first published in Free Inquiry in the year 2002, claims that when Americans feel threatened, they tend to give up their freedoms for faux security measures. On the other hand, The Economist which is a weekly magazine published

Kaminer states historical facts in her article about past American presidents who are well known for their work but they also carry a baggage which was overlooked. Out of few, one president every person in the world knows is Abraham Lincoln, who suspended habeas corpus and presided over the arrests of thousands of people for crimes like “disloyalty” (Kaminer, 2002, p. 397). She states this fact in order to make her argument stronger, and show that at the time of crisis, even the president took harsh measure against the innocent people instead of adding up security. She uses a strong name to make her argument very credible and shows her reader that government is capable of pulling faux security measures and they should stand up against. The Economist in his magazine mentions many individuals who are in top positions of security organizations. The author mentions Paul Ekman who is a researcher and an advisor to DHS and other intelligence, law-enforcement agencies in the United States, whose duty is to point out that signals which seem to reveal hostile intent change in context (The Economist, 2008, p. 401). Just like Kaminer, The Economist states these names to show their audience that they have mentioned reputable individuals who are expert in the field of

Kaminer’s tone is believed more to be critical and can be said that she is concerned for her audience. The way she starts her article, “Only a fool with no sense of history would have been sanguine about the prospects for civil liberties after the September 11 attack” (Kaminer, 2002, p. 397) can be said that her tone is offensive to those people who jump to conclusions without any prior knowledge in the field of history. She says this because she wants Americans to act only when they have a good knowledge about the topic instead of blinding trusting on the government. The Economist uses a formal tone because many experts are describing their technology in the magazine. The Economist mentions Charles Cohen in the magazine who is the boss of Cybernet Systems working for America’s Army Research Laboratory, says that “behavior-recognition systems are getting good, and are already deployed at some security checkpoints” (The Economist, 2008, p. 400). The tone is more professional and formal for the audience. The individuals mentioned in the magazine are more professional who talks about their particular fields they are working on in the security