I thought little of Michel Foucault when first assigned some readings my freshman year at Brown. We were clearly supposed to revere him, but his bio was terribly unappealing—especially the alleged child abuse—plus his obsessions with surveillance and punishment felt far from the whip-smart problem solvers I was bound to join.
Degenerate that he was, Foucault hit on something that’s actually got quite an ancient pedigree. For many of the early literate civilizations, there seemed to have been some idea that words and space/time were linked such that some formula involving the former could change the latter. Pharaoh would strike the name of a hated predecessor off of a temple and replace it with his own; this was taken to indicate that he had actually been the pharaoh the whole time and built the edifice himself. Such thinking was perhaps the origin of magic, with spells able to alter space and time using words. In our time, the media is the means through with such sorcery is effected. Vaccines are unnecessary, then bad, then good, then vital, then perhaps not without risks, then not actually vaccines. Nothing changed but the words, but we are clearly meant to accept each change as the reality that always was. Foucault understood that power, even as it damned him, like Faust.
Ivy Exile, when you wanted to be a public interest journalist, how did you decide what journalism was in the public interest? Ralph Nader's Public Interest Research Groups claimed to research subjects which were in the public interest but actually researched subjects which interested them. They researched subjects they thought the public ought to be interested in rather than those which the public is actually interested in. Were you trying to do the same thing?
Well said.
Degenerate that he was, Foucault hit on something that’s actually got quite an ancient pedigree. For many of the early literate civilizations, there seemed to have been some idea that words and space/time were linked such that some formula involving the former could change the latter. Pharaoh would strike the name of a hated predecessor off of a temple and replace it with his own; this was taken to indicate that he had actually been the pharaoh the whole time and built the edifice himself. Such thinking was perhaps the origin of magic, with spells able to alter space and time using words. In our time, the media is the means through with such sorcery is effected. Vaccines are unnecessary, then bad, then good, then vital, then perhaps not without risks, then not actually vaccines. Nothing changed but the words, but we are clearly meant to accept each change as the reality that always was. Foucault understood that power, even as it damned him, like Faust.
Very clearly written analysis of the interplay of critical theory and on the ground and practical progressive power plays, thanks
“…but as bastardized into politics and policy becomes a cheap excuse for magical thinking.” Brilliant summary of life in K-12 education!
Ivy Exile, when you wanted to be a public interest journalist, how did you decide what journalism was in the public interest? Ralph Nader's Public Interest Research Groups claimed to research subjects which were in the public interest but actually researched subjects which interested them. They researched subjects they thought the public ought to be interested in rather than those which the public is actually interested in. Were you trying to do the same thing?