Well, it looks like we’ve got some sad news for fans of the iconic Mario franchise—the expanding surveillance state is making it impossible for Boos to move around and live their lives freely.
Major bummer for diehards of these classic Nintendo ghosts!
It looks like the continual erosion of privacy through security cameras, satellite imaging, and other recording devices (e.g., the phone in your pocket), has forced one of Mario’s most iconic antagonists to remain stationary and invisible almost constantly. And we don’t want to speak for you, gamers, but that’s definitely not how we like our Boos!
Unfortunately, it seems the spectral denizens of Super Mario World are just another victim of the American panopticon that went into overdrive after 9/11 with the advent of the overreaching Patriot Act. It’s a huge drag for longtime fans of the franchise that despite the disclosures of Edward Snowden about the NSA’s PRISM program, the nation has done little to stop these adorable phantoms from being monitored 24 hours a day.
While critics will likely point out that reduced privacy is simply a part of public security in modern times, or that Boos are aligned with Koopas and therefore opposed to our national interests, we have to consider what constant scrutiny means for our society writ large. As Benjamin Franklin himself once said, “those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety,” and while we’ll fully acknowledge that this near-ubiquitous observation has made it easier to run past Boos without losing a life, we have to ask ourselves: At what cost?
That’s all for now. Here’s hoping that these Boos eventually align with other civil rights groups to form a voting bloc and finally dismantle the American surveillance state, but until then, happy gaming!