Eroding Privacy and Soft Totalitarianism

At the Mises Blog, "the Donald Sterling affair", observed regular contributor Ben O’Neill, “is the latest step in the eroding of any sense of personal privacy in American society”.  

More from Mr. O’Neill

Whatever Sterling’s just-deserts, if the American public, or the wider world public, continue to make a habit of gorging themselves on the private conversations of others, made in intimate moments, and taped without their knowledge or consent, then they are priming themselves for the already-occurring descent into soft-totalitarian rule.  The apparatus for this is essentially already constructed, and social attitudes are also shifting to allow this to occur.

Mr. O’Neill’s worries echoes on my own. But this reflects on the Philippine setting. From my latest stock market outlook…

…certain media programs sell Orwellian themes as entertainment, collectivist slogans have been part of daily rituals for certain variety shows, and worst, people’s personal lives have become part of reality programs where personal relationships are now subject to audience lynching…

And such protectionist response seem as being signalled by media in terms of instilling and conditioning the acceptability of draconian political and economic repression.

Which dystopian world are we headed for, George Orwell’s “1984” or Aldous Huxley’s “A Brave New World” or a cross between the two?

From Visual News.