Decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, people are still combing through the Stasi Files. What are those? The oppressive East German regime used fear to hold people in thrall, fear of the government, and fear of one’s own neighbors, who often, out of fear, turn in their own friends and family for supposed infractions or incorrect ideology. The government kept vast files of dossiers on common citizens, and these have become a vast and sad mine of information. People can now, in some cases, see which family member, or lover or friend turned the government against them.
Mayor Daley has to collect exorbitant taxes from an ever shrinking base in Chicago. He’s now offering bounties to people who turn in their neighbors for tax evasion. People have reason to fear their fellow citizens, and further reason to leave that city. Perhaps in 20 years, if things change, people will be able to know who turned them in.
