FloRida, 11/14

Foucault’s reading definitely proves how although we are under surveillance at all times, we rarely recognize it. Dr. Rog proved, in class, that if we knew we were under surveillance at all times and saw someone physically watching us, then we would be greatly affected. I really loved learning about the idea of the words “look vs. watch.” Until that point I had never really thought about their use, meaning, and difference. We “watch” television but “look” at a computer screen. I think it seems as if we “watch” mainly moving objects and look at still ones. The word “watch” seems to have the connotation of stalking or intently gazing. The word “look” has the connotation that we are glancing at something or not directly paying close attention. Foucault states that, “Everyone locked up in his cage, everyone at his window, answering to his name and showing himself when ask.” Our society has become one of spectacle. We both are involved in the spectacle and watch it happen. As Dr. Rog started class with the Foucault quote, “inspection functions ceaselessly,” we not only started to watch every move he was going to make but we began to watch the movements of all of our classmates. This proves that not only were we not sure what he was going to do or say, we were also not sure what moves or actions the students were going to make. We start to become the ones being watched and the ones doing the surveillance. “We are neither in the amphitheatre, nor on the stage, but in the panoptic machine, invested by its effects of power, which we bring to ourselves since we are part of its mechanism.” We are doing this to ourselves and in order to stop this surveillance from occurring we are going to have to be the ones to take action.