Teets, 11/15

I thought the test was more difficult than the first one, but it still wasn’t too bad. On Thursday we covered Foucault and I consider him to be one of the more interesting theorists. The Panopticon example is very thought provoking because it is a perfect model for society. People fear breaking the law the same as prisoners in the Panopticon example feared the guards. Whether we fully acknowledge it or not, the Gaze always has some kind of control over us. When I think of surveillance for some reason I always think about speeding tickets first. It is a common thing for people to want to get places as fast as possible. Our society is obsessed with the aesthetic of speed, like we covered earlier in the semester. However, people do not fly down roads because of the gaze of law enforcement officers. People do not want to pay a fine for speeding, so they drive the speed limit and get places slower than they could.

In class Dr. Rog opened up with a quote from Foucault, then proceeded to “observe” us, ask people questions and so on. The act went on for a solid portion of class, which was obviously to prove his point. What Dr. Rog did was essentially what happens to people on an everyday basis, but we go through life not always knowing this gaze is upon us. People sais they felt uncomfortable in class during this act, yet people don’t feel uncomfortable on a day to day basis. Why is this? Because society has normalized the idea of being watched, being under constant surveillance in many ways. Surveillance was created to discipline people, but it might become too powerful in the years to come. Countries such as England have already felt the huge effects of surveillance, as they are the most watched nation in the world. It won’t be long until surveillance in America really gains more power.