When Current Events Come Full Circle

By Sierra Parr

It's the final days leading up to the election everyone! If you're anything like me that reminder probably stressed you out but at the same time, it's all you can think about. As of last night, Amy Coney Barrett was sworn in as a Supreme Court Justice shattering the faith in our justice system of people everywhere. I won't lie, I'm mad about it as I'm sure some of you are as well. But in this space, I'd like to talk a bit about how my reaction to these current events has colored some of my thoughts on the recent reading material in this class. 

For those of you who have been following me on my journey through reading The Circle at a semi-manageable pace, I'm sure it's no shock that I've chosen to write about this novel again. There's just so much to unpack! Last night as I was stewing over the implications of a conservative court I decided to pick up the book to distract myself and also because the grind never stops. It seemed almost like a cruel joke that the section of the book I found myself in the middle of was about senators and politics and in general. In the book, the latest Circle invention is a camera that people can wear to record 100% of their everyday life. The company introduces a congresswoman who plans to wear the camera for the sake of transparency in politics. 

I'll be the first to admit that I hate the idea of us all recording everything all the time (Hello? Surveillance state!). But the idea of absolute transparency in politics tapped into a deep desire that was only made worse by the current situation. Do I believe that the people would actually hold their representatives accountable if they saw 100% of what they do? Not really. Do I believe it would stop politicians from doing unethical things? Absolutely not. But a girl can dream for a functioning democracy can't she?

In the novel, it seems as though (yet again) no one bats an eye at the ethical implications of such an invention. My primary concern about something like this is that if everything is recorded and uploaded to "the cloud" then none of our lived experiences are special. If everyday people were to have access to all of their memories via videotape it would exacerbate a kind of apathy and inability to live in the moment that we already see from increased interaction with social media. It's crazy that no one stops to ask themselves if just because they can does that mean they should? Seeing how the characters in this novel behave has made me much more conscious of the necessity (or lack thereof) of social media in my life.