Exploring Government Surveillance: An Analysis of Taylor's Essay

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of James Stacy Taylor’s 'In Praise of Big Brother,' arguing that Taylor's optimistic view on government surveillance is valid. It begins by defining government surveillance and its implications, drawing parallels to George Orwell’s '1984.' The essay then explores Taylor's arguments, which emphasize the State's need for comprehensive information to maintain social order and ensure a functional legal system. Taylor contends that surveillance, when implemented with proper legal safeguards, can deter crime, minimize bias, and provide reliable information. The essay addresses the 'Orwellian nightmare' objection, suggesting that potential abuses can be minimized, and concludes by supporting Taylor's perspective, highlighting the credibility and moral grounding of his arguments. Desklib offers this essay as a resource for students studying philosophy and related topics.

Running head: ANALYZING IN PRAISE OF BIG BROTHER
ANALYZING IN PRAISE OF BIG BROTHER
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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ANALYZING IN PRAISE OF BIG BROTHER
Introduction
The essay aims to analyze James Stacy Taylor’s In Praise of Big Brother and assert that
the author is correct in drawing an optimistic conclusion regarding government surveillance
(Taylor, 2005). The essay will first provide a brief idea about government surveillance and then
move on to describing its consequences. The argument put forward by Taylor shall be discussed
further.
Discussion
While proceeding towards explaining the arguments made by Taylor, it is important to
understand what governance surveillance is and how it received such prominence. As evident
from the title of Taylor’s work, the concept has been derived from George Orwell’s famous
novel 1984, in which the Big Brother was mentioned for the first time (Hossain, 2017). Big
Brother referred to the totalitarian state of Oceania where the people were under constant
surveillance. Post Orwell’s work, the concept has been widely debated over the years and many
controversies surrounded it.
Bauman et al. (2014) argue that the recent case where people like Edward Snowden
exposed government surveillance further escalates the issue whether it is all right to be watched
all the time. The authors further present the argument made by the proponents of governance
surveillance that security is more important than privacy.
In In Praise of Big Brother, Taylor makes several arguments to show that government
surveillance yields more positive results than it does negative (Taylor, 2005).. According to him,
the State must have access to all the information about its people in order to maintain social
order and let the legal system function smoothly. Taylor begins his paper by referring to Orwell’s

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Big Brother and states that the new surveillance technology today has made it possible for the
State to watch over people without being immoral.
He makes several valid points about the State’s authority to survey the people. According
to him, if securing all the past information on events is permissible for the State, than using
surveillance devices to do so should also be morally permissible.
Taylor then presents a series of arguments that provide a strong ground in favor of
governance surveillance. He states that surveillance would ensure that information is kept
beforehand so that when the need arises, it could be available. Further, surveillance would cease
the need to have witnesses; it would minimize bias and cancel out the issue of false memories
(Taylor, 2005). Surveillance with proper legal and procedural safeguards would ensure justice
without bias to the rich and poor and would deter crime as well.
While replying to the “Orwellian nightmare” objection by the opponents of government
surveillance, Taylor states that the potential abuse and bad consequences would be minimized to
a much lower level than it is now (Taylor, 2005). Most people would not even realize that they
are being watched because the State has nothing to do with people’s “boring life”.
Taylor’s arguments are very credible and to the point. He does not make any assumption
and provides solid explanations to his support for government surveillance. Comparing the
present technology of surveillance to the Big Brother in 1984, Taylor states that previously,
technology did not have that power to reach everywhere but now it does. He argues for
embracing the expansion of surveillance rather than fearing it. His points regarding the
availability of information through surveillance cannot be denied. Further, he speaks in favor of

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having a controlled, legal system of surveillance that could yield positive results, which is a good
point to ponder.
Conclusion
In the end, it can be reiterated that James Taylor’s argument in favor of government
surveillance and against the “Orwellian nightmare” is strongly put forward. The author has
managed to persuade the readers into supporting his considerations because his solutions are
credible and do not go against morality.

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References:
Bauman, Z., Bigo, D., Esteves, P., Guild, E., Jabri, V., Lyon, D., & Walker, R. B. (2014). After
Snowden: Rethinking the impact of surveillance. International political sociology, 8(2),
121-144.
Hossain, M. (2017). Language as the Device for Psychological Manipulation in George Orwell’s
Nineteen Eighty-Four: a Psycholinguistic Analysis. European Journal of English
Language and Linguistics Research, 5(8), 25-31.
Taylor, J. S. (2005). In praise of big brother: Why we should learn to stop worrying and love
government surveillance. Public Affairs Quarterly, 19(3), 227-246.