Are
people really protected by the government surveillance? Source: synd.imgsrv.uclick.com
The cartoon shown
at the top takes place in a modern U.S. society, and it shows a man who is pressing
his finger against his Smartphone, and right next to him is a National Security
Agency (NSA) building. The man,
obviously thinking that by scanning his finger he will be safe from government
surveillance, is actually being monitored by the NSA. His plans are completely
backfired because the NSA obtains his fingerprint that he scans on his phone.
To make the matters worse (or funnier, whichever works), the organization uses
the man's camera in the Smartphone to take some mug shots of him. NSA takes the
poor guy's personal information without being suspected at all by using
believable ads. Tom Toles successfully uses irony of a guy who accidentally gives
out his personal information in the process of trying to get some privacy to
create a sense of humor that appeals to pathos. Using this rhetorical device,
the cartoonist is able to persuade the U.S. civilians that although NSA's job is to gather secret
information, it may also eavesdrop on a group of normal people like the people
reading this cartoon. Toles probably wants his audience to be careful with anything
that might give away any personal information because nobody knows what groups
of people might get their hands on it. Although this cartoon is very humorous, there
is an underlying message that is very serious. It warns that "YOU might be
the next one to lose your privacy." I personally believe that Tom Toles
did a great job showing his message in his cartoon strip. The way the cartoonist
drew the man and the phone very simply seems to show that he is not referring
to a specific person that this kind of event happens to; he shows that this can
happen to everyone, so everyone must be careful.
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