| | As I said in my last post, fresh meat sold in an outdoor market is illegal in Seattle. I would say that the sale thereof constitutes a crime, but the enforcement is so vague that I cannot tell if it is violation of code or of law. There is a power in indefinite authoritative standards that makes coercion particularly difficult to resist in any intelligent manner.
I feel oppressed by this power at every market. I stand there, in my stall with the best meat in Seattle, without question. There is no more healthy source of animal protein available. Accordingly, it is also the most delicious because truly good food does not please the pallet without gratifying the hunger it expresses.
In short, it's food as God intended it.
This food however, is not enough to rid me of fear. I know and am convinced that it could cause no possible harm to anyone who buys. Still, I fear.
After market, I realized that I fear surveillance. I cannot focus on the customer or enjoying my task because I am scanning the passing bodies of the crowd for the black necklace name tag and clip board. I am afraid of being seen without seeing the inspector first.
Foucault relates this to prison architecture. The panopticon is a cylindrical prison with all the cells facing a central guard tower. EAch prisoner in his cell can see nothing but the cells accross from him and the guard tower, creating the nagging awareness of being ceaseless monitered. Every movement is observed.
The force of this kind of subtle coercion is so pervasive, that I can be anxious all day even though they never show. I know they will not show up because I know they are lazy, being government bureaucrats.
I must leave the computer; my wife is done with work at the cafe on whose computer I type.
These thoughts were leading somewhere...something to the affect that outlawed meat is more than just a diet restriction; it is tyranny.
M
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| | Posted 9/26/2008 12:55 AM - 28 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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