Invasion of Privacy; Corrupt leaders; Excessive dependency on technology; Mass conformity; Rigged elections; Violence against anyone different; People reduced to nothing more than a number; These are common aspects of society today. To some, this is the price of business. To others, these are serious issues that need to be dealt with. Either way, these things didn't sneak up on us.

All of these issues were predicted over 40 years ago by a clever and insightful writer/actor/director named Patrick McGoohan. These warnings were given form by McGoohan in 1967 via his ground breaking TV series, "The Prisoner". The show has developed a large cult following over the years, not only because of the quality of the program but also due to its social significance. 42 years later, its even more relevant now than it was at the time it aired.

Lets look at the show...

"The Prisoner" tells the story of a government agent (Who is never identified by name) who resigns from his position, citing an unspecified "Matter of conscience" and intends to get as far away from his old life as possible. But he quickly finds out that there's is no 'out'. While packing for his trip, gas is released into the apartment and our unnamed hero is put to sleep. Some higher authority doesn't want him to leave.

He awakens in "the Village". He doesn't know how he got there. Questions arise immediately. Where is the Village? Who runs it? Why was he brought there?

The Village is a lovely little town, nestled on a peninsula between the sea and some high mountains. The architecture is quaint. Soft, instrumental musical orchestrations are continuously piped through loud speakers, accompanied by frequent public service announcements. There are little stores and cafes in the Village, as well as a hospital and even an old age home. There's a radio station and a local Village paper called 'the Tally-Ho'. Small taxi cabs chauffeur people around the village but will never go beyond the Village limits. Everyone in the Village has his/her own identical apartment in what looks like a series of motels.

Every occupant of the Village is a former government employee who has some knowledge or skill the masters of the Village need. Their will has been broken and they are satisfied now to be prisoners. The residents dress in an almost identical fashion and everyone is referred to by a number. There are no names used in the Village.

The residents work their jobs and obey the rules. They don't resist. The Village is their world and they have adapted to it. They don't use their old names or refer to their former lives. That world is lost to them now and they've put it out of their minds.

No one dares to try to leave the Village, either by land or by scaling the high mountains because of the fearsome guardian of the Village known as Rover. Rover is a faceless, shapeless white blob that appears out of nowhere and literally devours anyone who tries to escape from the Village. When Rover is on patrol, everyone is on their best behavior.

The Village is ruled by a rotating series of generic bureaucrats known only as Number Two. Each Number Two is a smiling schemer loaded with people skills, charming on the outside and lethal on the inside. He/She is the epitome of middle management, forever striving to maintain peak efficiency in the Village while simultaneously trying to ingratiate his/her self to their unseen superior Number One.

The Village is loaded with technology designed to keep things pleasant for the residents and still allow Number Two to keep control. Cameras are everywhere, even in the apartments. All doors open on their own. Rover is the ultimate security system. Mind altering machines are used on uncooperative residents.

Conformity and routine is the rule in the Village. Anyone who is "non-mutual" faces the threat of punishment. But defiance rarely happens since the Village has effectively eliminated any desire to live outside the box. Being inside the box has become too comfortable. No one wants to be the outsider. Its easier on the inside. Number Two tells them that cooperation is for the greater good of the community but its really only for the good of the rulers of the Village.

Into this generic pool of conformity comes our unnamed protagonist, who is designated as Number 6. He rails against this idea of being reduced to a mere number. "I am not a number! I am a free man!" he yells, to the derisive laughter of Number 2.

Number Two and the rest of the Village hierarchy want information from Number 6. Most of all, they want to know why he resigned. They become obsessed with finding out why a man in such a high position would choose to give it all up and run away somewhere. What was behind his decision to quit? What had he learned that caused his resignation? What changed him from a loyal cog in the wheel into a free spirit? They just had to know and they'd stop at nothing to find out.

The various Number Two's try everything they can think of to coerce information out of Number 6. Threats; tricks; brainwashing; drugs; virtual reality; torture, psychological warfare; and even dream manipulation. To their amazement, none of it works! For the first time, they are up against someone who won't break! He won't even bend a little.

Number 6 clings to his individuality like a life preserver. There is nothing worse that could be taken from him than his identity. He wants his freedom--freedom of identity as well as physical freedom--more than he wants to be a safe part of the herd. Nothing can induce him to give up his identity to suit the needs of an oppressive society. He is not a number. He is a man!

Number Six is seeking answer of his own. Who is actually running things? Who is Number One? He tries to unravel the mysteries of the Village hierarchy. As they try to crush his spirit and make him a generic sheep in the flock, he tries to understand the heartless workings of the leaders of his community.

And that's what the Prisoner was about. On the surface. On one level, it was the story of an imprisoned secret agent being manipulated and tortured by a secret society who wants information. But lets look at the deeper meaning and see how the subtext is relevant today.

Modern relevance of 'The Prisoner'...

The Village works by making conformity the ultimate rule. The residents are made to feel comfortable. The rulers of the Village promise to take care of them. The prisoners have plenty of technology available to make themselves comfortable and content. They give up trying to escape because they are made so compliant by the trappings of their society. Rather than trying to be free, they settle for living the most content life possible inside the box.

Thank about that. Is this any different than the way we live today? We all complain about the government and the system. Its let us down many times. Yet we are too busy going about our busy lives, trying to earn the money to make ourselves more fat and content to bother worrying about the fact that our leaders seem corrupt and lacking in compassion. We're overtaxed and overworked and our only response to that sad fact is to work harder and attain higher status in a society whose leaders don't care about us as people. We exist to work and pay taxes. if we don't do that, we're thrown out onto the street by the same police whose salaries are paid for by the taxes we paid with our endless labor.

We all want to fit in. We want to be popular. Everyone wants to be the life of the party. Everyone wants to be on television (Hence all the reality shows). Everyone wants to be the a star. No one says their goal is to be unique, if it means sacrificing status.

Now lets look at privacy. Do we have it? Banks and other businesses share our private information with each other without our permission. Cell phones have brought our private conversations out into the crowd and we discuss personal things within earshot of a dozen strangers. We put our personal thoughts and dreams on Facebook, Myspace and on our blogs. We can easily google search information on anyone with the touch of a keyboard. Other people share E-mails we sent them with strangers. The government passed the Patriot Act which allows them to wire tap our phones without probable cause of a crime.

Is this privacy? I don't think so.

Now lets look at torture. Does Guantanamo Bay ring any bells? Certain members of the Bush Administration suggested 'Torture Warrants', permitting legal torture on certain occasions.

What about violence against any "non-mutuals". Being hostile toward those different than us is nothing new, although the nature of the hatred may change as time goes on.

Rigged elections? We don't have to go to the middle east for that. Think about the 2000 US Presidential election.

Over-reliance on technology? We can't go five minutes without checking our text messages. (Even in movie theaters, which I find very annoying. Just watch the damn movie!) If we meet someone who doesn't own a cell phone, the reaction usually is, "How do you survive without a cell phone?" Its unimaginable to us today, even though 15 years ago almost no one had them. How many gadgets do we carry abound with us? Blackberrys, I-pods, cell phones, and so on. Every business is dependent on computers and if the computers go down, everything comes to a stand still.

Are people being reduced to nothing more than numbers? We have our social security number, our drivers licence number, our credit card number and a zillion other numbers which prove to society that we exist. Our credit score has become the be-all and end-all of our worth as a person to get a job, an apartment, a loan and a whole bunch of other things. We are a number!

Here comes a spoiler for people who haven't seen the series, so don't read this if you haven't seen 'the Prisoner' but plan to. (S P O I L E R ALERT) At the end of the series, the identiy of the enigmatic Number One is revealed. And we learn that he is...Number 6 himself. Yes, Number Six has been unwittingly holding himself Prisoner. Number 6 was his own enemy. His past actions had led to his being trapped in the generic prison he is seeking to escape from. And even when he escapes, he knows he can't escape from himself and he can't escape human nature. The final scene of the series indicates that Number 6 realizes that his apparent freedom is just a myth. He's still trapped. He's just exchanged one Prison for another.

And haven't we all created our own prisons in life? We have to live in our self-made purgatories and there's no exit sign.

So, are we living in the dystopian society of 'The Prisoner' today without realizing it? Have we been lulled into unwitting slavery by a corrupt system that doesn't care about us and will swat us if we step outside the lines? Has the right to assert our individuality become the new leprosy? Michael Moore would probably agree with Patrick McGoohan. I agree, too.

What about you? Do you agree? Are you free?