State power neutralized spectacle by garrisoning execution squares
Evidence
Between the scaffold and the public, kept at a safe distance, two ranks of soldiers stood on guard, one facing the execution that was about to take place, the other facing the people in case of riot. Contact was broken: it was a public execution, but one in which the element of spectacle was neutralized, or rather reduced to abstract intimidation. Protected by force of arms, on an empty square, justice quietly did its work. — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 120
Categorization
- XREF: Connects to the reader’s Bentham/Foucault panopticon thesis: here the state fears being watched (the crowd) as much as it wants its power seen — an inversion of Bentham’s one-way visibility. — connects to: Celebrated criminal spectacles deliberately drowned out political violence — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 435; The sovereign executed regicides with symbolic maximal torture — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 108; The spectacle’s crowd could invert terror into revolt against the punitive power — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 115 (+3 more)
Related
- Execution rituals were explicitly military displays of armed justice. (similarity 0.82)
- The spectacle’s crowd could invert terror into revolt against the punitive power (similarity 0.82)
- Sovereign power was recharged only through visible spectacle (similarity 0.81)
- Public torture was spectacle designed to display sovereign power publicly (similarity 0.80)
- Public execution survived only as hidden spectacle, a drapery over an invisible body (similarity 0.80)
- Public executions taught the people that violence could be met with violence (similarity 0.80)
- Public executions required a witnessing crowd to constitute their meaning and effect (similarity 0.79)
- Public execution functions as a political ritual of power, not mere justice. (similarity 0.79)
- Public execution reactivates injured sovereign power rather than restoring justice. (similarity 0.79)
- Public executions produced disorder rather than deterrence for the crowd (similarity 0.78)
- Rather than displaying sovereign power, executions staged a reversible duel between executioner and people (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Public torture was spectacle designed to display sovereign power publicly
#expands(0.85) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 83 - Power can be physically exercised without resorting to violence or ideology
#complicates(0.75) — Michel Foucault, Discipline & Punish- The Birth of the…, 73