Gary-Foucault

Time to switch gears from De Saussure, Barthes, Adorno etc to the world of Michel Foucault. Why do I feel like my life may exist in a chamber of the "Panopticon". He says that the Panopticon "reverses the principle of the dungeon; or rather of its three functions-to enclose, to deprive of light and to hide-it preserves only the first and eliminates the other two" (97).

In today's society we are not hidden or deprived of light (unless we choose to be), but we are definitely enclosed. We claim to be free, but at the same time our every move is under the watchful eye of our supervisor. All of our decisions and movements are under the control of the "supervisor", similar to the men watching through the windows of the Panopticon.

Our society is divided into specific classes and groups, with each group enclosed in the appropriate section of the Panopticon. Every year class size and the division between the classes increases. We stray further from the foundation of our country as we let the Panopticon supervisor separate us by sex, race, class, wealth, education, medical condition, age, etc. Meanwhile all of our thoughts, feelings and actions are intercepted and analyzed.

I heard a story on the radio today regarding Michael Chertoff, the Director of Homeland Security. It seems that Mr. Chertoff and many of the government officials do not have e-mail accounts. The reason...."e-mail never goes away". The supervisor sees all, but does not participate.....

According to Foucalt, "the Panopticon [...] must be understood as a generalizable model of functioning; a way of defining power relations in terms of the everyday life of men" (99). The Panopticon fits our country like a glove. We exist in our designated area of the Panopticon, separated into our class structure, welcoming the light with open arms, but somewhere, our "supervisor" is monitoring our every move.