"Those guido mother fuckers"... This sentence does three things. First and foremost its an insult and a derogatory substitute for Italians. Second its a generalization that just because the men looked and seemed Italian that they were in fact "Guido Motherfuckers". Finally its an bias opinion that judges a group of people based on their appearance and actions.

This sentence was used in the second scene of the movie Enemy Of State when a man describes his beating. Now the part that I get caught up on is the generalization. All Italians aren't "guidos" just as all blacks aren't gangsters, all jews aren't rich, and all muslims aren't terrorists. However especially in America generalization occurs even more so then racism (speaking in modern day). These generalizations aren't just by the uneducated or ill-witted either many of our most powerful leaders have the same stereotypical mindset as the character who used the phrase I quoted above. 

Privacy is an important right that helps protect against stereotypes. Take away privacy and people will be judged on even their most intimate moments. 
Intimacy is not to be taken lightly but neither is violence. When muslim terrorists attacked the world trade center they burned an image of their religion being evil in the minds of the American people (with a little help from the Bush administration). The American governments response was to take away privacy to ensure that all citizens were constantly kept in some sort of check. However when you take away that privacy, you also take away all of the intimacy that goes along with it. Also taking away privacy leads to a constant judging and in the eyes of the wrong judge something as harmless as "eating to much bubba ganush (the daily show reference)" can be considered a red flag.


 The American government does not like red flags.... especially if you look anything like the people of the country who just bombed their big buildings. 



(Sorry I know I kinda left the topic of Enemy Of State but I feel like what I wrote needed to be said) 

This was an amazing movie, with out our class I would have never know about it. 

Though out the movie I was completely interested. They painted the government as "trying to help" but though the eyes of a citizen who is targeted it seems that the government just didn't know when enough was enough. 

How pathetic is it that they had to use black mailing to cover up their own dirt. This is a reason to never do something you are ashamed of or ever will be. During the film it seemed like there was no end to how much information was or could be uncovered by the NSA. 

Brill spoke of machines that monitored words during a conversation, it seems like a better idea then humans listening in on our conversations but what would happen if I say some thing is "da bomb" technically that would be a monitored word. Would this mean that I would know be under surveillance. 

The government needs to be capable of finding 'terrorist' but that does not mean that American citizens should have to give put their freedom, especially with out permission asked. 

Being that this wasn't the first time I've seen this movie, I always feel that this is one of Tony Scott's best films. Anyways, when you watch a movie for enjoyment, it's totally different than watching, and trying to pick out specific things. It was weird watching it, after learning about the USA PATRIOT Act. To realize that all of the technical things are attainable now, is kind of crazy. And to think that there are people who have to listen in on the private things that people speak about, email, or text to others is kind of weird. It would be nice to speak to someone with this job, and see how it affects them as an individual.

In the movie, the government is portrayed as being SUPERIOR! Not that they aren't, but the government officials in the movie acted as if they were the only important things living. It was also kind of weird to see that the different government agencies didn't really work together. It was like they each had their own agendas to tend to. 

The citizens in the movie, were treated as though they weren't "human beings". Kind of like the government officials were the only people that should really have a say so in what takes place in the country. It was kind of like they let people believe they're living their own "private lives", while in reality, they're really being invaded by appointed government officials.

Honestly, if the government was spying on me, there isn't anything to do to prevent it. How does one go about telling someone higher up than me, that they can't dig into my personal life? I've known before that the government can monitor certain technical aspects of our lives, but now I'll definitely be a bit more cautious of things I send out now, just because I see the bigger picture of the whole thing. In a way, I'm not opposed to it, because it's supposed to be for "our own good", but I'm also not totally excited about it either. We're subject to these conditions, because of the world we live in. We'll just have to get over it. 

First of all, I thought the film was brilliant. It made me feel uneasy at first, realizing that all of this is actually possible in today's world. I also found it awesome that this is an actual job, it could be interesting getting all this information, but at the same time scary because you are breaching someone's privacy.

The way the government is portrayed in the film is as if agencies are kind of separated. Like it seemed that the FBI didn't care about going after NSA even if they were government officials. I found this interesting because it meant that while some people actually would interfere with another agency/branch if they were doing something wrong. In a way, similar to how the President can veto a bill if he/she thinks it's unjust. So maybe a system of checks and balances comes into play?

Would I allow the government to spy on me? Hell no. Can I stop them? I'm not sure how to do that. We can't get our own guys to sweep for bugs around our homes. We're all being watched some ways or another. But does it affect me personally? Nope. The NSA could be reading this right now. They could have like 10 agents on me RIGHT NOW. I may not be able to finish this because I might "know too much". I'm not okay with the government surveilling us, but I can't do anything to stop it. That's the point I'm making.

I guess in a way, we're all subject to what our governments do to us by wanting to live in this country.