Rico72, Foucault

Foucault compares a more modern Panopticon to the way a town would handle a plague out break. There is one part where he shows how they differ from one another that relates to our society today. "In the first case [plague stricken town], there is an exceptional situation: against an extraordinary evil, power is mobilized; it makes itself everywhere present and visible; it invents new mechanisms; it separates, it immobilizes, it partitions; it constructs for a time what is both a counter-city and the perfect society; it imposes an ideal functioning, but one that is reduced, in the final analysis, like the evil that it combats, to a simple dualism of life and death" (99).

This whole section reminded me of 9/11 and the U.S.A. in the following weeks. There was an "exceptional situation" we were faced with and the government quickly mobilized to keep order. Our society was changed forever when this happened. Every day on the news we would hear about a new terrorist threat level and given tips on how to survive certain attacks. I remember seeing American flags every where in the weeks following the attack. This rush of nationalism allowed us to get caught in a war. This also led to the "lock down" of America which leads to the Panopticon.

"It is the diagram of a mechanism of power reduced to its ideal form; its functioning, abstracted from any obstacle, resistance or friction, must be represented as a pure architectural and optical system: it is in fact a figure of political technology that may and must be detached from any specific use" (99).

This can be related to all the new "security" and other technology that was developed after 9/11. As technology gets better and better it becomes easier for governments to see what people are doing. The "terror threat level" tells us when we should be prepared for an attack. This puts us in fear and we look to the government to tell us what to do. This is how we were/are controlled, by a color. If you challenged this system or the government, you could be considered a terrorist. If you caused enough trouble you could be arrested and held in prison with out trial. You can be traced through your phone, car, computer, and online interactions.

Although Foucault points out that the plague came hundreds of years before the Panopticon, I think you can still see that progression from our recent history. The difference is, the "plague" struck and the "Panopticon" came much sooner. Although this is just looking at one incident, it shows how the Panopticon comes from an "exceptional" situation.
Technology is just forcing us to become part of the Panopticon. The problem is we all have this ideology that technology will help us (which it can). However, as we have seen with oil, over-dependence never leads to anything good.