Foucault 9/9/09

After reading Michel Foucault’s “Discipline & Punish”, not only was I glad that I was done reading, I was also depressed. It got me thinking of how free we are (Or that’s what we think), and that we are able to do and go where ever we are without boundaries and without the fear of being zapped by some Police officer. We are able to study what we want and even travel to where we want. In the reading, people have no authority to even THINK of what they want to do. The second sentence of the reading which states “the
closing of the town and its outlying districts, a prohibition to leave the town on pain of death, the killing of all stray animals; the division of the town into distinct quarters, each governed by an intendant” (Foucault Par. 2) pretty much summarizes the reading and describes how “life” is turned into a prison, a prison where one does not even have freedom because they are being watched by intendants who will tell you what to do and what not to do. In fact, calling it a prison makes it sound good. Being condemned to death
all because one leaves the street is not what a human being should go to, if people are living under these rules, do you even consider this living? I mean what is the point of guiding people into living .There are millions of things that are morally incorrect in this reading, but it really got me
thinking. What if we are being watched today? The DMV has our pictures, name, signature, and all sorts of information that the Government has access too. At birth, or when one goes through the Naturalization process, they go through many questionings, and also are required to get their finger prints scanned and whatnot. What about the cameras which we can see on the streets today? Who says they are just for speeding or running a red light? Who says they are not just watching us every moment of our lives. The First Amendment says that we have Freedom of Religion, Press, and Expression, but one can still fall in trouble by speaking too freely about the President or other people with high ranks. We as Americans are given rights, but are not completely free. I was also reading about how the Government records every phone conversation in the U.S. after 9/11. There are those who agree and those who disagree. But what if it is true, that would mean that the Government would know everything about us. Our private lives, our love
life, what we ate, what we did at school, what we get angry about, who we broke up with, and the list goes on...
This reading does remind me of how the Party members live life in Orwell’s novel 1984. The Party members have to live their life controlled and watched by the government. They cannot do or go anywhere they want, only certain “accepted” areas. If one falls in love, or speaks bad about “Big Brother” they will be taken and most likely shot. They cannot even think or write any negative remarks, because the Thought Police will accuse you of a Thought Crime. Talk about freedom.But who says our society is not turning into a world similar to 1984, or who says the Government isn’t spying on us without our awareness?