Monthly Archive for May, 2009

Status Updates for 2009-05-31

  • In Japan Half-Blood Prince was translated into Enigmatic Prince because the word for half-blood is a derogatory term. http://bit.ly/suEzH #
  • “Radio controlled southern belles are loose!” Napoleon Dynamite meets Gone With the Wind for gender bending awesomeness. http://bit.ly/ivLlE #

Discipline, Punishment, Gratification, and Sugar Free Cookies

This Boing Boing post titled “FBI terrorist interrogator on the uselessness of torture and the efficacy of cookies” reminded me of a line from Foucault’s Discipline and Punish about discipline and gratification that has stuck with me over the years: “In discipline, punishment is only one element of a double system: gratification-punishment.”

The Boing Boing post features someone’s argument about how building rapport with someone is more effective than torture when trying to get information. They use the experience of giving a diabetic prisoner sugar free cookies as a turning point in gathering information that likely couldn’t have been had by any other means.

I think it is not only a good example of discipline via the form of gratification, but also a good argument for the effectiveness of gratification as a form of discipline over punishment. Another way to read this is to figure the embodied experience of pleasure at the core of subjectification.

It reminds me that most people aren’t necessarily even aware of gratification as a form of discipline. I try to be conscious of it, but it’s difficult to resist the rewards that go along with particular modes of being. Though, knowing that gratification is also a form of discipline doesn’t make it any easier to know what to do. Sometimes this knowledge, as often seems to be the case, just leads to paralysis.

Status Updates for 2009-05-29

  • About 30 hours after leaving Champaign I am finally in my room in Tokyo. Flight from Houston to Japan was only about 14 of that. #

Status Updates for 2009-05-28

  • Sitting in shuttle waiting for odyssey to Tokyo. Stressed because I lost my keys but won’t affect my trip. Maybe they got packed. So weird. #
  • Nine hours and no sleep later I am in Houston on layover. Key crisis (see prev) was averted — they were still in the front door. Whew. #
  • We’re at least 2.5 hours behind schedule and on another plane because of problems with toilets on first. I’ve had a few minutes of sleep. #
  • The plane FAIL has given me the unique opportunity to enjoy Barry Manilow’s cover of “Careless Whisper” for a second time. #

Status Updates for 2009-05-27

  • You are what you share. (Figured someone had already said that. Maybe I heard it and forgot.) http://bit.ly/ERSeB #

Status Updates for 2009-05-24

  • I wish I had majored in English. My thoughts and words have this social science stink that only the humanities can wash away. #

Status Updates for 2009-05-23

  • I was just thinking about how easy it is for me to get distracted, then I got distracted thinking about how easy it is to get distracted. #

Status Updates for 2009-05-22

  • RT @jtzl conservative talk show host mancow realizes waterboarding is torture (video) http://is.gd/CtzC #

Status Updates for 2009-05-21

  • Recently: saw the Wrestler (good but depressing), visited Josh in Lafayette, saw Star Trek (surprisingly deep), got a haircut (it’s buzzed). #

Status Updates for 2009-05-18

  • #humor Slumdog Price Is Right http://bit.ly/15DPlx #