Foucault Reflection

One of Foucault's main points is surveillance and how prevalent it is in our society. After hearing the stories that some people had shared in class made me realize just how frequently we're being monitored in all aspects in our life and how unaware we are of it. He wants us to critical and aware of this surveillance. He is critical of this constant surveillance that taps into our private lives and views it as highly negative. When discussing this in class I couldn't help but think about one of my favorite reality shows, Big Brother.

Big Brother 16 Clip

Basically, it starts out with 16 contestants and they have to compete weekly in competitions to guarantee their safety in the house. Each week, one person is voted off. The house is under 24 hour, constant surveillance for the entire duration of the show (the whole summer). The footage covers everything from them sleeping, eating, fighting, and making out. It's really personal. All the footage can be found online for anyone to view. Millions of viewers find entertainment out of this show but if you really think about it, the concept is extremely weird. We can basically stalk these people that we don't even know and hear and see everything that they do at any moment of the day. Reflecting on that, this is how the government works with the rest of us in society. It's a frightening thought that we are under constant watch, and that every move we make is possibly being seen. There's apparently ways for the government to turn on the cameras on our computers without us knowing, in order to watch us. This increased surveillance is a violation of our rights and privacy, yet it is only getting worse.