Foucault Surveillance
The concept of surveillance is clearly prevalent throughout this clip. Ron Swanson is someone who keeps to himself and prefers to have very little detail about his personal life exposed to anyone. The surveillance shown in his work computer opposes this and instead violates Ron’s privacy. Foucault writes in Discipline and Punish “the Panopticon is a marvelous machine which, whatever use on may wish to put it to, produces homogenous effects of power” (Foucault 555). In this case, Ron’s computer is the “marvelous machine,” although to Ron it is not so marvelous. The computer produces effects of power because it knows much more about Ron than he believes it should. Ron is such a secretive person that he does not even want people to know when his birthday is, so obviously seeing something like this on his computer is not ideal. On the bright side, at least he found out a way to get rid of the cookies on his computer.
The Google Earth fact is disturbing because it makes it seem like everyone in the world is under constant surveillance! Even though Google Earth doesn’t show who lives at what house, it is still unnerving to see that a company like Google has produced so much power that they can do this without the approval of everyone. Even though people aren’t under surveillance by Google Earth, it makes me wonder if there are other forms of surveillance that could track humans like this. There are several powerful companies that can play the role of the “machine” that Foucault talks about, and produce alarming effects of power to gain an advantage over others. The thought of living in a world like 1984, or Fahrenheit 451 is a pretty terrifying thought, and while I don’t believe that’s where society is going, the thought that we are constantly being watched is alarming.
Meaning and Pleasure2014 
Dylan, I really enjoyed your post and the way you related it to the great Ron Swanson. The internet is the ultimate Panopticon, and not even Ron Swanson can avoid being tracked and watched by it. I’m glad you chose a clip featuring Ron because as we know, he dislikes just about everything government has to offer. His views on surveillance I think represent a good amount of American’s views on it: it’s scary. However, I also find it interesting how Ron himself uses the Panopticon to his advantage in the workplace. He knows what everyone is doing and where they’ve been. Even though he’s a private guy, he knows a lot about his coworkers. I mean, he is their boss after all.
I find the office area extremely interesting as well. There are a lot of different rooms and individual offices, but all of the walls have windows in them, and the blinds are always open. Everyone can see each other and can hold each other accountable. Ron is like the leader of the Parks and Rec Panopticon, and he has implicitly taught his coworkers self-surveillance, because as we know, Ron hates talking to people. The best thing he could have done for his building is to make sure everyone knows he’s watching. This is why I find it funny that he hates the internet spying on him so much. It’s okay for him to survey his people, yet he feels creeped out when someone is doing it to him. Classic Ron Swanson.
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