“TMZ” of course, is an entertainment news network, including a TV show and a website. The reference is to kids of this generation being filmed and photographed all the time, which is said to cause anxiety and paranoia. One example is his reference to the Wall Street Journal article, “Suddenly everyone is scared to dance at concerts and clubs.” But the whole culture has turned voyeuristic, making everybody afraid to be themselves.
This is not a particularly good episode, as the point is not that earthshaking, but I post it for the record.
The guests this week were author Malcolm Gladwell, journalist Fareed Zakaria, and journalist Anand Giridharadas, but you don’t see any of them in this segment.
I like it!
I’m not concerned about being watched and tend to think that the cameras are being operated by people on my side. (Could be wrong.)
A tangent to Maher’s main point about the effect of surveillance on Gen Z:
Police officers here in Florida have been arrested for using license-plate reader data to stalk women. One stalking target was a 17 year old girl. Bad.
One county in Florida discovered 14 Flock cameras without permits. 3 of them belonged to the county sheriff’s office, the ownership of the others remains unknown. Bad.
But there’s this:a few years ago a neighbor set out in her car, got confused and lost. A license-plate reader spotted her car 3 days later on the Florida Turnpike and she was brought home safely. Good.
The Florida DOT ordered that all license-plate readers be removed from state roads and state-owned property by the end of September. I noticed today that the FLOCK camera that was located just outside the entrance of the property where I live is gone. The pole that it was mounted on remains.