Panopticon
A nurse at a New York City hospital was fired for using the word genocide at a ceremony where she was receiving an award for her compassion.
When philosopher Michel Foucault wrote a history of prison systems, he studied the evolution of human-made power structures disciplining and punishing other humans who didn’t behave in the interest of the powerful.
Over time the ability to control inmates within prisons improved to the point that a new and incredibly efficient system was created; the panopticon.
Geometrically arranged so the inmates are constantly watched while they are unable to see who watches them, the panopticon allows a single guard to watch over hundreds of cells unseen.
The inmates are objectified by power, and never the subject of it.
The inmate can still be punished for things they thought went
unseen inside the privacy of their cell. Eventually, it was found, inmates regulate their own behavior in order to avoid punishment.
Foucault’s study necessarily causes the mind to project the panopticon onto society in general, as I’m sure you already have done so while listening to this.
Another philosophical study found that entertainment was being used as a framework that could define what society talks about, and how it talks about it.
Critical theorists Adorno and Horkheimer called it a Culture Industry.
Specific types of actors are elevated to fame and fortune because they not only represent the values of the prevailing power structure, but do so in an attractive way.
These rhetoricians, or what we call celebrities, are so convincing that the audience willingly, if not unconsciously, adjust their own behavior to conform to the attractive and popular standards presented to them.
Noam Chomsky was once asked a question about his book Manufacturing Consent.
A journalist condescendingly asked Chomsky if he thought media ownership colluded with each other to spike some stories or fire journalists who didn’t conform. Chomsky responded that nonconforming journalists are filtered out by the power structures and that other journalists are elevated for their obedience and subordination.
Compassionate nurses fired for caring about victims, inmates who regulate their own behavior, audiences cowed by celebrities, and journalists filtered for their subordination.
The panopticon punishes you for disobedience. Elevates you for obedience. The stakes couldn’t be any higher. It is your livelihood that it threatens.
Its greatest asset is popular opinion. Which is also its greatest weakness.
Eamon Loingsigh
