This advert for a Swedish library makes clever use of its bread and butter, books. Covering a wide range of issues and topics books have played an integral part in human development and are intricately linked to our political systems and subsequent freedoms. The widespread surveillance carried out by the NSA in America, with GCHQ's corroboration, have been an attack on personal liberty and an affront to the nature western liberal democracies.
George Orwell, author of dystopian novel 1984, writings are now oddly prophetic - to an extent he probably never envisaged, in the western world at least. What would have scared Orwell the most is the apathy that has met the revelations of mass surveillance. There has been a great deal of criticism directed at the NSA, but the general public has leaned towards the view of ' I ain't got nothin' to worry 'bout' or 'well Jeoffrey as long as it goes to catching those damn terrorists'. Current governments have not yet been revealed to be using this data in a cynical manner, however the increasing use of digital data in election campaigns must raise concerns about the temptations for flailing to governments to go through personal details.
In spite of this advert being simple and engaging, the very premise of it is completely wrong. In all likelyhood Barack Obama has read 1984, being an intelligent man he presumably understood it well. As a young liberal Senator Obama was very outspoken against the NSA and vowed to remain opposed to it. A few years of soaring rhetoric and umpteen 'Change and Hope's' later Obama was now president and would have been briefed on the activities of the NSA and the avowed benefits of their tactics. That is perhaps the stark and worrying reality, Obama understands 1984 and our ever increasing march towards it. Principles are a long way from the practicalities of leading the worlds most powerful country.
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