As a disclaimer, I’ve always hated Foucault. But even I have to admit that he has written some of the most interesting work you will ever read on the mechanisms of power and the surveillance society.
If you’ve ever found yourself cursing the system or wondering how in the fuck the world went so mad in the first place, and I know many of you have, then you’ll probably like this one.
From the moment we’re born to the moment we die “we are subject to the power of correct training,” just the notion of being and living and acting like a “normal” person is a function of the invisible systems of discipline that keep everyone in order.
Let me give you a fairly innocuous example.
Have you ever stopped at a traffic light in the middle of the night and sat there waiting for the light to change even though the streets were empty and no one else was around?
Yes?
That’s the invisible system of control at work. You’ve been trained to respond that way and what keeps you there, waiting for the light to change, isn’t logic or morality, it’s crippling fear.
Isn’t that fucked up?
I’m sure you can find dozens of other examples if you think about it for a minute. But of course, resistance isn’t entirely futile. Because as much as society favours obedience, fortune has always favoured the bold.
So until next week, go be bold my brave friends.