Freedom or Security?


"They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." — Benjamin Franklin

We all want to live in a safe world, but what are we willing to sacrifice? This is a question that lies at the heart of "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." SHIELD is working on a plan to keep the world safe. But to do that, they have to tread upon the rights and privacy of the world.

Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) sees it as a necessary step for the world we live in. Captain America (Chris Evans), who was born of a different time and generation, sees it as sacrificing too much. This is not a new question — either in terms of modern entertainment or age old debates. How much can and should we sacrifice for freedom.

Our Founding Fathers knew that this was something to be considered. Franklin's quote gets at the heart of that. But with the increase in terror threats, and the increase in technology, the line between security and privacy has never been thinner.

"Captain America" is a Marvel comic movie. It's an action movie. It's popcorn entertainment. But woven in that is a serious topic, that the filmmakers take seriously, too. They don't really have a great answer for the question, but they want the audience to ponder it.

Those that don't watch the news may not realize it, but our government has been treading close to — or perhaps over, depending on your viewpoint — that line for a while. There will soon come a day when, as citizens, we'll be forced to declare just how much privacy we're willing to sacrifice for security.

Of course, "Captain America" isn't the only piece of pop culture entertainment to tackle this subject. Many shows and movies have talked about the free flow of information and one — "Person of Interest" — is even built around the idea the government is spying on us for our own good, and what that might mean.

We all want to be safe, but we want the freedom to live our lives. This country was founded on those ideas of freedom, yet we seem to be on the leading edge of curbing that freedom for security. The question we must consider is whether that is where we want to be?

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