Gary 10/27

I knew it before class, but now it's been confirmed. Our society is the "Panopticon". Am I paranoid....or just a realist? Everywhere we go, we aremonitored. Swipe your badge, enter your code, enter your SS#, enter your password, sign on to the computer. Track your events some day and you will be surprised at how much data you leave back on your trail.
Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that we should go hide in a lead cased closet. I freely give out all of the information (with the exception of my SS# and my fingerprints at Disney World) on a daily basis. Why am I comfortable with this? Because I have accepted the Panopticon. I know they are out there aiming at me and I freely walk past my cell window everyday. I'm one of those pre-destiny believers too. It was meant to happen, deal with it.
Foucoult says that "power should be visible and unverifiable"(98). How does a Frenchman get such a good insight to our government? The "gaze" exists on many of our faces as we routinely follow the procedures and never ask why. Just enter the code, swipe the badge, give out your information....don't challenge or wonder why, just do it.
I previously worked for a company for eighteen years. Many of my fellow employees had worked there for 25, 35, even 40 years. Some of the procedures and methods of accomplishing everyday tasks were extremely antiquated and counter productive. When I questioned why we operated in this manner, I was given the answer "That's the way it's always been done". The Panopticon was alive and well at this company...don't challenge it because the "power is visible and unverifiable". Oh...that power and the gaze amongst the thousands of faces at this "institution" led them straight to bankruptcy. Get rid of the gaze, question the power, and we'll eliminate the Panopticon. You go first....I'm not sure what's aiming out of that tower.