Life is never that transparent
By BILL DUNCAN Did you ever think about the definition of the word, “transparency” that has lately become a government buzz word? I thought I knew what it meant, at least in photography, but I wasn’t sure, in political terms, exactly what all these talking heads were trying to convey and it sounded more like smoke and mirrors. I looked up “transparency” in every word source I have in my library. The word transparency itself is a noun meaning something is made viable by light shining through from behind. So from a political definition I would think we taxpayers could shine a light behind all those billions in bailouts and see where all the money is going. However, I am skeptical about just how transparent things will be, because the word transparent is an adjective, according to my word sources, that means transmitting light so that bodies behind can be distinctly seen. One of the alternate definitions is that it becomes easily seen or detected. Also it says that what is transparent should be obvious and free from deceit. “Free from deceit?” In government terms I think smoke and mirrors is more of an adequate definition. If you think this is all new, think again. There is an international society, formed in Germany in the 1970s, called Transparency International that now has a USA branch. It was created especially to encourage governments all over the world to implement effective anti-corruption laws and policies. It all sounds good in theory, but is there a hidden purpose? David Brin in 1998 wrote a book called “The Transparent Society,” which will scare the hell out of honest law abiding citizens. To Brin “transparency” means we all lose our privacy. He says that it is already happening, but in the future privacy will be nonexistent because of computer technology. It is beginning to be an Orwellian nightmare where government literally peers down from every lamppost, every rooftop every street sign. It would all be fine if those cameras were just the eyes of the police protecting us against street crime, which was said to be their original purpose, but slowly these spy cameras are reaching inside our homes. Already there is a new video monitoring system called Kindercam linked to telephone lines and a central internet server that allows parents to see their children in daycare. There is a company selling “Nannycams,” a video that allows parents to check on babysitters. Brin says surveillance cameras are the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. He describes scanners that can trace the patterns of ink inside a letter sealed in an envelope. Already cash registers are gathering statistical data in a million supermarkets. Cameras can be as small as a period on a business card. Another book that will raise your eyebrows is about just how private our lives are, “The Naked Corporation,” or how the age of transparency will revolutionize business, was written in 2003 by Don Tapscott and David Ticoll. The two authors contend transparency is revolutionizing every aspect of the economy forcing firms to rethink their values. The book cites examples of how this transparency is affecting major corporations. Their advice apparently was ignored by Wall Street and the regulators in our government, who now want to make everything transparently oblique. More than a century ago, H.G. Wells told the fictional tale of Griffin, a gifted medical student who made himself disappear. Griffin became the “Invisible Man” by tinkering with his body’s refractive index, the measure of how light is deflected off an object. In this age, to remain a private citizen we may all have to make ourselves transparent. (Bill Duncan can be reached by writing to P.O. Box 812, Roseburg, OR 97470.)
The View From Here