<p>Question:
Think carefully about the issue presented in the following excerpt and the assignment below.</p>
<p>. Nowadays nothing is private: our culture has become too confessional and self-expressive.
. People think that to hide one’s thoughts or feelings is to pretend not to have those thoughts
. or feelings. They assume that honesty requires one to express every inclination and impulse.
. Adapted from J. David Velleman, “The Genesis of Shame”</p>
<p>Assignment: Should people make more of an effort to keep some things private? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.</p>
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<p>In light of recent events, there has been a surge in the desire for privacy and an increased effort to maintain said privacy. However, although privacy may and should be kept in a miniscule group of items and issues, one should be more open in most of their pursuits. In examples such as the Pentagon Papers, Frankenstein, and the NSA affair, privacy has harmed those who pursued it and openness would have avoided the harm. During the Vietnam War, the US government had sought to maintain their analyses and thoughts private. However, these ideals differed completely from what the government had been telling the people. With the revealing of the Pentagon Papers, a sense of mistrust was created between the people and the government. This shows that by keeping things private, mistrust would inevitably develop and friction would be created between those who keep things private and others. Had the government been more open in their documents, the people would not have reacted as fiercely as they did. In modern times, the issue of privacy in the government has appeared again, this time in the NSA affair. Regardless of one’s beliefs on this incident, it is undeniable that it has spurred great controversy and friction between the government and the people. The NSA was alleged to have spyed on the people and it had attempted to keep this spying covert. When an insider, Edward Snowden, had revealed the issue that the NSA had kept private, outrage ensued. In this case, maintaining privacy also resulted in a detrimental effect, and had the NSA been more communicative about its pursuits, this outrage would have been prevented. The issue of privacy can also be seen in the literary example of Frankenstein. In Frankenstein, Victor Frankenstein chose to keep his affairs private, this privacy would end up causing the deaths of Justine and others and discord between him and his fiancée. By keeping his affairs private, he had no one to consult when he faced dilemmas and he shut out those who reached to him. This shows that privacy, when sought after, may cause negative reactions from others as it adversely changes who one is. In the literary example of Frankenstein and the historical examples of the NSA and Pentagon Papers, the pursuit to maintain privacy resulted in highly detrimental effects. Therefore one should attempt to maintain more openness.</p>
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<p>So, I noticed I spelled spied incorrectly ._., and also I ran out of space for the conclusion. Personally, I felt that I should have elaborated more on the examples themselves and not making a mini-conclusion to each body. What do you guys think? Any opinions are welcome; thanks!</p>