GOD IS A CCTV CAMERA
God, depending on what you choose to believe, is or was always watching us. That is the basis of religious morality- that our actions are watched and recorded for future judgment by some kind of all-seeing eye. As a result, we humans have always had to watch ourselves, lest we step out of line and find ourselves struck down by a rain of furious, godly thunderbolts.
This ‘omnipresent’ idea extends across the world. The notion of being watched is one of the oldest forms of maintaining control in the metaphorical book. Fear of being caught and punished is inherent in most religious teachings. After all, no one wants to burn in hell now, do they? Plus, it works out perfectly for those controlling the masses because if you get people paranoid enough, everyone starts ratting everyone else out.
In fact, it has been proven that when people take part in psychological tests on morality, they tend to cheat less when convinced that a ‘god’ or ‘ghost’ is watching them. Does that mean if we don’t feel like we are being watched, we are more likely to lie, cheat, steal and murder? You would think that we would have more faith in the human spirit than that, but then again, read on.
In Britain, our Christian God has somewhat forsaken us. For better or for worse we have risen above state religious organisation and have become judges of each other, or more specifically, our teenage murderers, our violent youth and most importantly our special, farmed flock of celebrity lambs, all ready and willing to be crucified on the media cross.
Through the eyes of the press we bear witness to those who are willing to expose themselves to the public. Subsequently we pass judgement upon them, which essentially makes us the chaste and knowledgeable spectator. If that is the case, who is judging the spectator?
That’s where Big Brother comes in. The national ten-year fixation on Big Brother seems to be somewhat therapeutic, or perhaps didactic. We have become comfortable with watching and judging people on their very being. But as we know, cause must always have effect. Could it be that the underlying need to be watched and judged ourselves is manifesting itself in the 15 minutes of fame so many people crave today?
Big Brother has gradually and stealthily conditioned us into accepting constant surveillance rendering it a truly successful social experiment. Compare the number of reality TV shows to the fact that Britain has over 4,285,000 CCTV cameras; that is 20% of the world total. With our every move being actively or passively watched and recorded, CCTV has become the God of our secular nation and the funny thing is, we seem to be 100% comfortable with it.
News broadcasts are quick to remind us that CCTV benefits the security of a nation under threat both by violent youths, and pesky terrorists who have a talent for forcing governments to strip away at civil liberties. Even the girl with the CCTV camera directly under her bedroom window doesn’t really mind when it zooms in on her. Incidentally a true example, this actually exhibits a direct infringement of Article 8 defined by the European Convention on Human Rights.
Even so, we remain actors on a giant film set and the CCTV camera has become our omnipresent companion like that silent God of yesteryear, both benevolent and omniscient in its lack of judgement. Well, as long as we stay within the boundaries of the law and have nothing to hide. People don’t seem to have problem with that, but of course it depends on the law. If there comes a point where the paranoia garnered by these cameras becomes too much to bear, we could easily plunge back into black listings and inquisitions. Bearing in mind what happens on BB, I wonder what happens when this God gets angry.