What is Subversive behavior? Subversive behavior occurs when people feel the need to disobey the government or other forms on enforcement because they do not agree with the methods said government or enforcers are using. Subversive behavior is all throughout Little Brother, taking forms of the Xnet, jamming, and the Vamp Mob.
The Xnet is formed for people who do not believe in what the DHS is doing in terms of 'security'. Marcus and his friends, feel if they don't stand up for whats right, no one will. As it turns out, there are many other teens who are thinking along the same lines, and join the Xnet in hopes to stop the DHS. This is where the Xnetters plan different ways to show the DHS that they will stand their ground, causing them to act subversively.
Jamming is something all Xnetters do to make the DHS' job hard. They are taking the identity of one person and giving it to the next. This makes it hard for the DHS to pull someone over due to their odd patterns in travel because the person they are physically speaking to does not have their actual identity. Given the number of Xnetters and all of them jamming on a daily biases, the DHS' job is now ten times more difficult.
The Vamp Mob is originally developed for as a diversion so Marcus and Ange can be freed but all the Xnetters come because they know it will annoy the DHS, again acting subversively. The Vamp Mob is scheduled to take place in a high traffic location, which doesn't do much to benefit the DHS in terms of the after math they must deal with. Once the DHS steps in, they capture Marcus and basically torture him. Now, I know there is a separate blog post about Torture so I won't go too much into detail about that. However, I do want to note that Marcus and the Xnetters knew the means the DHS would go to if they were to be captured. Having known this they still participate in subversive behavior. Which just goes to show how far people will go to prove their point.
Aside from the novel, subversive behavior is also clearly visible all around the world. Many people have heard about the Taliban and it, to me, is one of the more extreme cases of subversive behavior. This example shows how subversive behavior can escalate to a full scale war, which in this specific case, can go on for years.
More info about the Taliban - http://www.infoplease.com/spot/taliban.html
In your post I really liked how you used so many connections to the book and again to our world. One thing I would have liked is if you had made more connections (if possible) to yourself and your subversive behaviour
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you connected the topic to the book. I like how you explaned what exactly subversive behaviour was. I think you could relate the idea in subversive behaviour and the taliban to current events.
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