ADAM OLSEN -- If the goal is to create a fair and just society, then it is unfortunate that the discourse is divided into pro-labour or anti-worker, pro-taxpayer or anti-taxpayer tribes
In a post last week, I addressed French philosopher Michel Foucault's work on discipline and punishment. Reflecting on how his studies in justice and social order show up in modern society. I included extensive quotes from the transcript of an episode of Philosophize This! by Stephen West. Today I will use the text to pivot to another issue which bothers. " To Foucault, the goal of the modern penal system is not justice or fairness … the goal is through surveillance, normalization and examination to produce harmless, non-rebellious, working, tax-paying productive citizens who follow the rules and are satisfied with a life of conforming to the normalized standard of what it is to be a person handed down to them from above … in other words, docile, useful subjects that carry out the vision for what the future should hold given to them by the people in power ." 'Dog-whistles' litter the modern political discourse, riling up segments of ...