The vigilant eye

After reading “Panopticism” by Michel Foucalt (1977), I instantly remembered the famous book from George Orwell, “Nineteen Eighty Four”.

This book is about a fictional world in 1984, where the planet is divided in three totalitarian powers and the freedom of expression (and of thought) is seen as a crime.

Winston Smith is a man working in one of the Ministry of the government (The Ministry of Truth, where historical events are eliminated and new ones are created in order to match up their versions). One day, he suddenly sees all the injustices done by the ruling party, and tries to rebel against it.  The book shows in an astonishing narrative how the system works and how difficult is to escape from it because they know everything you do. It is a system represented by “Big Brother” an omnipresent figure that can see all your movements and is everywhere.

…” On coins, on stamps, on the covers of books, on banners, on posters and on the wrapping of a cigarette packet-everywhere. Always the eyes watching you and the voice enveloping you. Asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed-no escape “…(Orwell, 1949 p.29).

From this book comes the famous reality show and the universally known phrase: BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

Orwell’s Big Brother and Bentham’s Panopticon share similar principles. The Panopticon was an architectural structure thought for prisoners trapped in jails and in constant visibility, just like Big Brother traps the citizens through his watchful eye.

With the Panopticon, the objective was to cause in the convicts a state of mind that could ensure an acceptance of being observed, therefore enabling the operation of power, just like the omnipresence power of Big Brother does.

For Bentham, the power should be visible and unverifiable just like Big Brother, who is always looking, but you never know when is he looking at you.

With the progress in technology, this schema of the “vigilant eye” spread in the entire society.   Panoptic systems and video surveillance are not only used in jails, hospitals or schools. They have been used for several decades in every country, where “free” people walking on the street are being observed.

And we are used to it, we even act in consequence keeping watch on ourselves through digital technologies that enable new modes of self-surveillance (uploading your life on YouTube or writing your status on Twitter).

It does not end in social networking or video surveillance. The government can have access to your bank account or your email, even the CIA knows who you are through Facebook. I think we should put more attention to this matters because with digital technologies,  panoptical mechanisms are being more elusive, more ample and more controlling than ever.

REFERENCES

Foucalt, Michel. (1977) `Panopticism´. In Kaplan, D.M. (ed.) Readings in the philosophy of technology. (2004) Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 359-372.

Greenop, Matt. (2008). Facebook- The CIA Conspiracy.  Retrieved September 7, 2010 from http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=12685

Orwell, George.(1949). Nineteen Eighty-Four. (Reprinted in 2000) London, Penguin Books p.29