Eugene Albert Olarte Javillonar For August 17, 2013

Absent Report, PH104 Section B

On the lecture it was first discussed on how the deployment of

sexuality, this concept written and expanded by Michel Foucault, actually
connects to his other concept of disciplinarity. We can see this through
disciplinarity apparatuses are given opportunities to show themselves in
the society as gender functions by providing power partitions to people.
Not only in the concept of women and men separation through our curiosity
of sex, but by how this differences resurface into a form larger in society
forcing us to act in blind manners like that of the prison system explained
in the context of a disciplinarity society. From here we consider real life
accounts that support the connection between sexuality and disciplinarity,
which mostly are records of wars and most recently the civil war raging in
the Middle East. These wars in Egypt and Syria which is caused mostly by
the instability of government and clashing of societal beliefs with
government power is subject to another issue that is older than their
current issues. While Egypts cause of conflict is that of the transition
of power from dictator to democratic and that the fall of the dictator
leads to a bumpy road of a new elected official. It was the sudden need to
change the newly elected leader that lead to all the conflict. And that the
military trying to help, actually lead to more interference and thus
bloodshed was the result. Syria likewise is the cause of multiple factions
all aiming to gain power in the country. But all these issues is only the
second level because as it was discussed these nations did not anticipate
the surfacing of Arab Spice as said in class.
This Arab Spice which is locally called in the Middle East as Baharat is a
spice mixture or blend used in Arab cuisine, especially in the Mashriq
area, as well as in Turkish and Iranian cuisine. Bahrt is the Arabic word
for 'spices'. The mixture of finely ground spices is often used to season
lamb, fish, chicken, beef, and soups and may be used as a condiment. This
seasoning we are later told to be a precious material in the Middle East
and thus one of the antagonizers for conflict and strife. The want for this
particular material or ingredient has caused the death many people, in a
way it has cause the occurrence of brother killing brother.
Disciplinarity causes opportunities of endless production and
material benefit. Because we are subjected to power relations like that of
prisoners in a penal system, we are then controlled in mass. Not so much
like being subjected to a rigorous form of routine life produced by being
in an enclosed and walled location with wardens and guards to enforce it,
because of our very society. The society and the people we are surrounded
by produce the oppressive power that surrounds us and influences to act in
a mindless fashion because to do others is show deviancy and to be deviant
means to be expelled by the people. Thus by being forced into the
subjection of the disciplinary system we produce and reproduce this need
for material want and creation, because this is the current desire of our
society. But since in the community there is no try equality among men we
end up with the Grid or the creation of partitions within society. These
partitions are wholly uneven where those at the upper brackets of the grid
are very well suited to a good life; those on the lower brackets suffer the
cruelty of poverty and educational or intellectual deprivation.
Those in the better brackets of the grid are given better advantages
not only in terms of a better life but also because they are able to
reproduce and even strengthen the partitions. Though this is perfectly a
goal of self-interest, because of their positions it is possible. But in
the bottom left part of the grid which we later call the penitentiary is
subjected to waves of dehumanizing life-styles. Though their suffering is
more physical in nature, there is another dehumanizing thing which can be
seen in the upper brackets of the grid. And this is the dehumanization of
affluence.
Eugene Albert Olarte Javillonar For August 17, 2013
Absent Report, PH104 Section B

In terms of affluence this form of dehumanization takes another route

by showing the effects of being in the upper bracket. Though these people
suffer neither pain nor the crushing forces of poverty it is pleasure that
actually blinds these people. In a way they suffer in comfort because they
are stuck in a state of no movement. Since they are blinded by the safety
of their life styles they produce more arguments and sets of questions such
as what should they do or where they should now go. We discuss that maybe
their only route is to be apathetic and unfeeling, cold to the issues and
problems of those below them because they do not concern themselves with
it. Thus the lower brackets of the grid suffer and that those with the
intellect and the power remain in their high pedestals and do nothing.
Though the thought is dire, we discuss the fact that this system of society
and thought is man-made. Created by people this is like a building with
floors and foundations. Though the artifice is imposing it can be
dismantled and rebuilt because of it being made by human hands, meaning
there is still hope. We are given the choice whether we follow the system
or fight against it. As was said by Max Weber, we operate our lives in an
iron cage but we are caged in the way of our minds. Because the grid system
that produces partitions and causes the conflicts of affluent and the poor
is something we either allow it and subject ourselves to it, or we try to
conquer the system and become the master of our own choices. From here we
transition to Foucault and what he studied. The main focus was that of
power and power relations, but Foucault was able to do this through the
analysis of the punitive system and was able to do so with purity and
practice. It was his ability to be blind and willingness that the system
that has engrossed the modern system was exposed to him. The system is not
impartial and is cruelly subject to many forms of discriminations mostly
created by the biases of those in the upper brackets of the grid. And one
of the most frustrating thing about this is the fact they are mostly
apathetic the pain of the lower men and women because the self-created
partitions are already too thick. It seems that the system, though man-made
has become a part of the human nature of things. Something so inherent in
human society that it seems completely unassailable thus we simply take
things as is. But this hopelessness is not an utter defeat for those who
want change. The answer to fight this disciplinary juggernaut of the
Faustian pact is through curiosity, a curiosity that enables one to be free
of idolatrizations. Where there is no encompassing life-style or ideology
but a curiosity that pushes the self-worth of the human being because in
many cases we reach that point where the need for possession in itself
possesses us. Like the form of higher education, we may at times subject
ourselves to simply learning, by engrossing ourselves in the processes of
education but not actually learning. We simply follow the routine of our
courses, study, do the paper and finish, but have we actually learned,
where we really curious in being educated. Like the rich man who denied
Jesus because he cannot let go of his possessions, he himself became the
possession of his things and wants. The problem though is that in presence
of many institutions like that of this school, we have been trained to live
a life unrattled with conflict or strife. We train ourselves to adapt the
processes, the teachers and the course in order that our lives will not be
disturbed, like that of those living in the upper brackets of the grid. But
education which is like knowledge should be a passion, something we desire
but also do. To fight the partitions, one has to be filled with passion to
do so. But in fighting for it one should not work too hard or else they
will forget themselves as well. Because it was discussed that with too much
passion for something men can turn a blind eye to being human, and that
vast amounts of cruelty can be brought out from a strong and powerful
passion for something, such is the case of D. Mengele in the Aushwitchz
concentration camps, an example of impeccable cruelty from passion.