In George Orwells book 1984, he writes of a society where the

proles and citizens of Oceania are repressed, lack any rights, and are
constantly surveyed; but they are safe, and that is enough to satisfy
the masses. H.L. Mencken, an American essayist, wrote in the early
twentieth century that the average man would rather have safety
rather than freedom, and this is still just as true today as it was back
then. Being free is constituted by the freedom to commit any action
without consequence, while safety is the ability to be protected from
danger. Mans want of security over freedom is prevalent today in all
societies whether is be surveillance, Police repression, or privacy
searches.
One of the largest breaches of freedom is government
surveillance of the people through Internet and phone tracking as well
as visual surveillance through security cameras. These are used to
keep our safety through catching of criminals before they act as well as
catch and identify those breaking the law. People argue that these
don't even keep us safe at all as catching criminals before they act
through tracking google searches and websites visited which creates
nothing more than speculation and is just a breach of security. People
who are against government surveillance also argue that the use of
surveillance cameras keeps no one safe, only being able to catch
criminals after a crime occurs. They say it is just used as a breach of
privacy as police can monitor every single one of your actions. This is

nonsense as the government does stop crimes and identify criminals

from occurring through phone and internet communication as
exampled by the multiple terrorist plots that were foiled before they
occurred. The average man prefers this as no group has earned
enough following or sway to actually stop these breaches of privacy.
This means that most people would rather be safe than sorry than be
free in the public domain of the internet and outside ones home. The
allowance of this just goes to show the acceptance of society in giving
up freedoms for the chance of being safe.
Another activity that is commonplace in society is the police and
laws they enforce. Complete freedom would mean no laws and no
enforcement so the police are by definition repress freedom. Their role
in keeping people safe from violence and other crimes keeps people
from completely ousting them. In the past year, many people of the
general population has begun to argue against the use of a police
force. They say that the police are not keeping people safe but are
making the world even more dangerous than before, citing the large
amount of police violence stories such as Brown and garner cases that
have garnered massive uprisings. This is true, there are many cases of
police violence against the innocent but this doesn't matter to the
general population as their have been nor large groups that have
petition to take down the police as a whole. The average man accepts

that these things happen and the police are suppressing all people
because it means security in society.
Finally, one of the larger breaches of freedom are home and body
searches. While they are 2 separate matters, they both share the
commonality of breaching the two most private and sacred of all
human possessions. The home is the one piece of private property that
most people have in society, the rest being public domain. So when the
home is breached by a search warrant (or sometimes without), this is
one of the largest breaches of freedom and privacy. The only thing
more sacred than the home is ones own body which is routinely patted
down or strip searched by police and security. These things also keep
us safe with them being enforced to stop terrorists and violent crimes
before they happen. There are many people against these breaches of
privacy that argue that when these things are breached, they are no
longer keeping people safe but are merely ways to suppress peoples
freedoms and in some cases are taken advantage of and turn into non
punishable sexual harassment. While this might be the case
sometimes, the general population not only is fine with these actions
but also encourages it. When 911 and many other acts of terrorism
occurred, it was the people who asked for increased breaches of
privacy as it made them feel safe. They also support home searches
because of the stigma that only people that have reason to be
suspected of crimes have their home searches and are thus deserved.

These responses show again, that the common man thinks of freedom
and privacy as expendable if it means safety is gained.
The average man has valued safety over freedom since the
creation of government and it is just as prevalent mindset today as it
was back then. The implications of this are that this trend of freedoms
being suppressed will most likely continue to increase but like always,
the common man will accept this without actions to stop or change
this. Who knows, maybe we will go down the path to 1984
where fear and suppression are commonplace and accepted because
of the safety guaranteed by it.