So, I just finished Little Brother and I couldn't help but notice some other well-known works that I thought had similar accounts. For instance, did anyone else get a V for Vendetta or Live Free: Die Hard vibe from it? I certainly did.
One other thing. While reading, I found myself wondering where to draw the line for what constitues acts of terrorism. I believe there are strong and valid arguments for whether Marcus was truly a terrorist in some sense, or whether he was just a very passionate citizen. Thoughts?
I don't think he was being a terrorist at all. Last night after reading your entry, I simply googled the word terrorism. Here's part of the wikipedia definition:
ReplyDeleteTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition.[1][2] Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for a religious, political or, ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).
The reason I think the main character, Marcus, was not committing acts of terrorism is evidenced in chapter 19. The vampmob has gathered at the Civic Center, and the DHS is warning the crowd to disperse. The Xnetters all hit the ground pretending they had been gased. The other people around them started getting scared, covering their faces and running away. Marcus says, "This wasn't supposed to happen-- the choking was just supposed to freak people out and get them confused, not panic them into a stampede." I think this is evidence that his attempts, regardless of the outcomes, were not meant to cause terror.
That's true, but only later in the novel. But at the beginning, I felt that Marcus was very angry at the DHS and wanted some form of revenge. That form happened to be jamming and other things of that nature. Though he did not intend for any actual harm to come from his acts, he did hope that some chaos or disruption of normal life would arrise. However, this backfired often and eventually led to some panic and more government involvement. He wanted a change in the governing system ("a political or, ideological goal") in order to maintain more privacy, and to gain those rights back, he used/instigated harmful and disruptive means ("use of terror"). I felt like he wanted people around him to realize how overbearing the government had become and hoped that they too would become skeptical and fearful of the omnipotent DHS.
ReplyDeleteI do agree though, that by no means did Marcus hope to hurt anyone. He just wanted to make people see what they might be oblivious or ignorant to. I would even argue that there are some forms of terrorism that don't necessarily have to involve actual violence...maybe just the possibility or psychological terrorism.