Kristen O’Connor
Blog Post #1
10/26
When I first began
reading Super Sad True Love Story, I
made a connection between the ARA and our modern-day NSA. As I continued
reading, I found this connection to be mostly futile, as our notions of
surveillance seem to be rather incomparable.
SSTLS includes a very
different view on a person’s private realm; it seems that there really is no
“surveillance” in Schteyngart’s dystopia—everyone watches each other willingly
and openly. Information and ratings are widely available to the public, unlike
today, in which the NSA is the only source collecting and viewing our data. An
issue that arises here is that we never know exactly how the information of
characters in SSTLS becomes
available; however, I would argue that it is directly connected to the ARA
because they are seen scanning information, and seem to be all-knowing when it
comes to credit rankings. Dissimilar, the NSA that surveillances us behind their
computer screens, the ARA is completely public, and freely displays acts of
violence against those who do not conform completely.
Regardless, I
believe that there are still connections to be made. It is clear that
Shteyngart takes many of our current realities, like the attitudes toward
fashion, texting, and books, and morphs them into something more extreme and
scary. I don’t think he would shy away from doing the same with an issue like
surveillance and NSA spying strategies. He finds a way of relating our
modern-day NSA with the futuristic ARA but without providing a concrete
correlation. As both Snowden and Greenwald suggest, the NSA fights and
penalizes non-conformity, and labels those who reject conformity terrorists. In
SSTLS, the ARA and fellow government
forces fight against those who have data that is diverse, distinctive or
unusual from everyday norms, very much like the NSA does today.
The first,
seemingly obvious connection that I made was between Lenny and Greenwald’s
partner, David, and their encounters at airports. In No Place to Hide, David was detained in the UK under the Terrorism
Act of 2000 before making it to Berlin to receive Snowden’s archive of top-secret
documents. Similarly, in SSTLS, the
otter flagged Lenny after the apparat thought he slept with “some Somalians.” Because
both characters performed assumed acts of “wrongness,” they were reprimanded
and essentially threatened by authoritative figures. I find this to relate
directly to one of Greenwald’s statements about the NSA: “And in every
instance, the motive is the same: suppressing dissent and mandating compliance”
(4). Both David and Lenny, although doing nothing illegal, were questioned and
threatened with consequences—David directly, and Lenny through the otter. This threat is prevalent in many aspects—after
being flagged, Lenny is clearly nervous, as he thinks to himself, “... I did
worry. How could I not? Flagged by some fucking otter! Jesus Christ. I
instructed myself to relax…” (30). He recognizes the adversity of being
flagged, and the intensity of the situation. Similarly, after being
interrogated for nine hours, David said he was threatened with prison if he
didn’t cooperate completely. He later says, “You realize they can do anything
to you” (245).
This part of David’s
run-in with the government also reminded me of another part of SSTLS, though a bit later into the story.
When contemplating David’s run in with UK security, Greenwald writes, “He had
clearly been targeted,” as all passengers on the plane were asked to show their
passports (245). David was also forced to give up all of his electronic devices
when being interrogated, giving the interrogators access to personal
information: “I feel like they invaded my whole life, like I’m naked” (245). This
situation closely resembles the situation with the fat man in SSTLS. The U.S. National Guard boards
the plane to interrogate and physically harrass the fat man, looking for his
apparat, all while he begs, “What did I do? ... I told the beaver everything he
wanted” (40). Directly after, the
National Guardsmen take the apparati of the nine American passengers, and scan
them for data. Both David and the fat man were subjected to punishment because
of a speculated threat due to the government’s collection of data.
It is shown in
both Super Sad True Love Story and No Place to Hide that these surveillance
administrations spy on everyone, but focus specifically on certain groups that
may not “fit in” with what is viewed as acceptable or normal. Greenwald
specifically writes,“…The documents left no doubt that the NSA was… involved in
economic espionage, diplomatic spying, and suspicionless surveillance aimed at
entire populations” (94). Both the NSA and the ARA target non-Americans, but
they also make an effort, though more discreet, to track Americans, as well. The
NSA tracks almost anyone under the mask of terrorism, like David, while the ARA
tends to target those who are immigrants and are low net worth individuals.
This is shown specifically once Lenny has been flagged: Nettie Fine says,
“Don’t worry. You’ll be okay. A man like you. Creative economy. I just hope
your parents’ Credit ranking is strong” (13).
Lenny, because his credit is high, is secure even though he is an
immigrant. His parents, also immigrants, may not be safe if they have low
credit, however. Although the notion of privacy is extensively different in
these different eras, it is clear that both of these surveillance systems can
punish anyone deemed unacceptable by a higher authority.
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