The hypocritical oath of the average Joe

We live in a time where man, as in both male and female, tends to value his privacy above all else. When laws that restrict people's right to privacy are passed, the average Joe stands up and lets it be known that he indeed will not stand for this rude attempt to invade his inner most sanctum. He explains that the right to be left alone is indeed a much more important right than the government’s ability to locate and apprehend pedophiles, traffickers and, God forbid, terrorists. Joe quickly mobilises and writes articles, holds speeches and even organises demonstrations. But the ruling political body did not listen to the average Joe, they felt that they, indeed, knew better in regards to what Joe’s best interests here in life were.

But in the turmoil of what was the political debate both Joe and the government had forgotten one thing. The government did not really need to use laws to spy on Joe, not that they would want to anyway. No, Joe himself had seen to it that all the information that the government would ever need was already readily available to them. Joe, who indeed was earnest in his need for privacy, or so he thought, had already published everything you would need to know about him on his Facebook page, his Myspace, his blog and he had even uploaded several videos on Youtube depicting himself doing the oddest of things like flicking off policemen or riding his motorcycle backwards on the highway. Indeed what Joe wanted was to not have his privacy invaded by strange men or women, especially if they were working for the government. Everyone knows that the government is up to no good, Joe himself had heard about people reading about it in some book from the eighties. Joe did not quite know what it was about, though he knew it had something to do with some big brother watching something in one way or another, anyway it was bad news and Joe knew it.

The government, acting in Joe’s best interest of course, could not understand why Joe did not want them to keep him safe and sound. After all since Joe had nothing to hide then Joe should not have to be worried about the thought police, I mean the government officials, paying him a friendly visit to inspect the workings of his, coffee making apparatus. In fact, since Joe spends so much time making intimate details about his life available for all to see, the government could help him, via the use of the new legislation, and do the work for him. They would be spying on Joe anyway so they might as well publicise their findings and thereby saving Joe both the time and the effort freeing him up for more important tasks like for instance: work.

But since neither of the to parties in the conflict saw the opportunities of a mutual cooperation Joe vowed the defend his right to privacy, even though all he really wanted was for people not to get paid for reading things which he had already made available for free. The government, of course, continued to watch over and take care of Joe’s best interests even though he did not himself acknowledge or know what they were.