boingboing comes through again

an interesting snippet of some dude's blog about panopticism, i like it :)

talks about how reality shows are kind of an introduction to the panopticon, and shows quite impressively how shitty americans really are when they've got nowhere to hide themselves. for a long time (when i was younger) i considered calling myself a communist before really understanding what that meant. i still scoff at the IMMEDIATE discontent brought on by even the mention of communists, 'cause i think it really is viable....the problem is that it's always brought on by a tyrant. age old problem i suppose, one that i don't know how to solve.

then i was introduced to the panopticon (there's an imaginary link at the left, just click on the blank word : ) where all the qualities i liked in communism were presented in a more....palatable dish. i'm going to actually try and make some actual sense here since i started on such an empty argument (feel free to flame me afterwards).

i still don't know much about communism, and have no capacity (nowhere near) for understanding the darker parts of it. what i DID like about it, however, was the motivation aspect of it. i think 'motivation' as a principle in itself is far overlooked in most instances. it's probably considered more than often indirectly or tacitly, but i think it should be more directly approached. i guess my attraction to communism was that the motivation didn't come from selfishness like a more free system (democracy!) even encourages (perfect competition vs. monopoly i suppose). in a communist world, if you didn't do your shit, you had society to answer to. if you did your shit, granted, you were no better than ther rest of the town, but that made you a PART of the town. in a free for all competitive society, however, everyone is pitted against eachother and forced to outperform the other.

from an evolutionists point of view (darwinism, natural selection, basic evolutionary theory) i do believe that competition brings out the best in EVERYTHING. i mean, that's why humans evolved and beat down the octopus evolution (there was a theory that if humans didn't evolve then next in line was the octopus, but there isn't room on earth for two superiorities because human evolution supressed the progress of other species). competition motivates everyone and everything to be better. you don't have to run faster than the bear, just faster than your friend :)

unfortunately, humans are too smart for their own good (notice my distinction of 'them' and not 'we', clever, aren't i). our problem solving capabilities give us the gift of MALICE. we can openly destroy another's life for the sake of competition, the sake of survival, and the sake of superiority. other animals....they might just eat eachother...but i kind of think that's just fine because they're just doing what's expected to be done to them in the same situation. in human society, however, we've developed a degree of 'morality' which is so many different levels from person to person, society to society, that there are inevitable conflicts in "do unto others as you would have done unto yourself." maybe dahmer would've understood being sodomized and eaten, who knows.

BUT, along with our gift of malice, we are given the plague of a conscience. people all have their understanding of right and wrong, oftentimes it is thoroughly understood, and equally communicated between different parties. depsite this 'conscience' supposedly installed to keep us true to morality, we have been bestowed (yes we) with the gift of denial. as long as it is in our control, it can be kept out of sight. as long as it is out of sight, it can be kept out of mind.

SO, trying to link this all, we are faced with competition for survival and superiority, basic animalistic adventures in life. humans, however, are set apart from others because of the gift of malice (originating from cunning) and the plague of a conscience. set apart, that sentance doesn't make much sense in the whole argument....humans aren't the only ones with malice because malice is a human quality originating from the existence of our conscience. the two are brothers...or sisters....doing it for themselves perhaps?

other animals have what we MIGHT call malice....killing eachother and eating eachother's babies and shit...but those are innate qualities built upon survival and these actions are both understood and expected in animal communities. with the human conscience, however, we have justice and morality. some things just don't work right in an intelligent society, like male domination *shrugs*.

so along with intelligence we got malice and a conscience, but even with both, which are supposed to be the checks and balances, we got denial. the 'second accounting book' of the human psyche i guess. despite knowing what's right, knowing what others THINK are right, and even FEELING deep down what is downright WRONG....people still commit crimes against eachother because it can always be denied. coming back to motivation, our invevitable role in a competitive theater motivates us to PROGRESS. the motivation to progress sometimes overcomes the blancing forces of a conscience and our society begins to drift back towards an animlistic mob.

and finally, the panopticon. take away the element of denial and you have your checks and balances.....reinforced by the humiliation of 'the eye'. some people can live with being hated, despised, avoided, and ridiculed.....but in the end, those are the people that are going to be filtered out of our society. they won't reproduce, they won't teach their kids that mantra, and only the people who are comfortable making sacrafices for the sake of society will reproduce in a healthy environment. unlike communism, the motivation is for the positive effects, not the negative effects....sort of. i mean the same argument could be made that in both cases, failure to adhere results in you getting fucked....but in the commumist society, there is a roof of progress. one can only go so far, and can only achieve what the 'government' has chosen to be right. int he panopticon, however, competition still exists, and progress still has it's basis in letting people break out and work on their own to find all their little 'high chairs' where they excel in society instead of relying on some sort of centralized body to decide (which will inevitably make more mistakes). despite the competition, however, it's fair competition. cheating, malice, unfair advantages....they're all done away with and known to the world. criminals are convicted, conspiracies are vanquished, and lies are uncovered.

fair competition is all that lives on.

(i'm sensing a tie to ultimate rules...interesting : )

okay, enough'a that...i'm gonna go sand my surfboard and drink more.

whiskey