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| -rw-r--r-- | paper.md | 38 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | reference.bib | 10 |
2 files changed, 34 insertions, 14 deletions
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ be a rather useful one in the consideration on surveillance and its impacts for both those conducting it and those it is being conducted against. +[@purpose] + We can find important identifying characteristics of surveillance and what they mean for people through study of the Stasi and what it did. This can lead us to suggest that the nature of surveillance is one @@ -102,16 +104,17 @@ in heavy usage of surveillance. It is this sentiment that Anna Funder describes in Stasiland when discussing her conversation with a man in the park in reference to the Berlin Wall: "I know this argument as well: if you didn’t buck the system, then it wouldn’t harm you. But, -from what I have seen, it probably would." The potential for one to -accept or ignore the authoritarian measures of a surveillance agency -may have to do with the image they assert, as looking out for people. -It is by this that might have drawn people to join the Stasi and work -for the state: the belief that doing so is upholding the law and -living in the right way. Funder's Stasiland discusses this also -when an ex-Stasi officer, Herr Christian, describes his reasons -for joining the Stasi: "but he stayed with the Firm [Stasi]. ‘I’ve -always had an acute sense of duty to obey the law,’ he says, -‘and I thought it was the right thing to do.’" +from what I have seen, it probably would."[@stasiland] The potential +for one to accept or ignore the authoritarian measures of a +surveillance agency may have to do with the image they assert, as +looking out for people. It is by this that might have drawn +people to join the Stasi and work for the state: the belief that +doing so is upholding the law and living in the right way. +Funder's Stasiland discusses this also when an ex-Stasi officer, Herr +Christian, describes his reasons for joining the Stasi: "but he stayed +with the Firm [Stasi]. ‘I’ve always had an acute sense of duty to obey +the law,’ he says, ‘and I thought it was the right thing to do.’" +[@stasiland] The Stasi came to an unexpected end. Following the declining interest @@ -180,8 +183,17 @@ about the Stasi provides is a very valuable one, given the clear view and judgement we are able to have on it and thus our potential to learn more from it than other examples of surveillance. -<-- horrible - -Surveillance exists in an interesting +<-- horrible + +Arguably the Stasi represents more than just surveillance as it has +been seen otherwise historically. East Germany is arguably the first +example of modern surveillance state: one which leverages technology +and recent methods in order to monitor and potentially control the +public. Arguably the most important characteristic of surveillance of +is that it might be essential for modern authoritarianism: it +certainly was for the SED and its lack of public support [@purpose]. +Learning from the Stasi and the regime it worked for may be key in +preventing such regimes in the future or such inhumane, widespread, +and totalitarian surveillance in our own time. # References and bibliography diff --git a/reference.bib b/reference.bib index dc060ce..c60b065 100644 --- a/reference.bib +++ b/reference.bib @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -@book{ stasiland, +@book{stasiland, title = "Stasiland", author = "Anna Funder", year = "2003", @@ -45,4 +45,12 @@ journal = "The New York Times", url = "https://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/13/arts/tv-brings-western-culture-to-east-germany.html" } +@article{purpose, + title = "Between Myth and Reality: The Stasi Legacy in German History", + author = "Konrad Jarausch", + year = "2014", + journal = "Bulletin of the German Historical", + institution = "German Historical Institute Washington DC", + url = "https://www.ghi-dc.org/fileadmin/publications/Bulletin_Supplement/Supplement_9/supp9.pdf" +} |