Reproduction of the Reality through December 18 Middle East Technical University (METU) Riot

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Reproduction of the Reality through December 18 Middle East Technical University (METU) Riot

As one of the leading philosophical figures of the twentieth century, Michel Foucault transformed his methodological approach from 1970s onwards. He started to use genealogy, as named by Nietzsche, in his studies which focus on the impact of power on discourse. Why Foucault switched from archaeology, which is a linguistic-historical method analyzing discourse systems to discover how the systems of thought has been established through historical processes; to genealogy[1], that focuses on the construction process of the discourse systems instead of the discourse systems themselves, was that he realized that the popular saying “knowledge is power” can be reversed and power might also be knowledge so that these two concepts could not be separated[2]. In his book translated to English with the title “Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison”[3], where he first used his genealogical method, Foucault persistently emphasized a fact: The ones those have the power could create the knowledge and change the truth if they wanted. In line with this, in his book “Archaeology of Knowledge” dated 1972, he stated: “…in every society the production of discourse is at once controlled, selected, organized and redistributed according to a certain number of procedures, whose role is to avert its powers and its dangers…”[4]. In fact, this view had already been described before Foucault by Georg Orwell in the dystopia that he created in his book “1984”[5]. In the novel, from the viewpoint of Winston Smith working in the Ministry of Truth in Oceania country, we see how things change suddenly. When there is a war against Eurasia and East Asia is an ally, then in a day Eurasia becomes the eternal ally and East Asia becomes the absolute enemy. Even the history is written from the very beginning and the new knowledge becomes the new truth. The aim of this article is not to make a genealogical analysis but to exemplify the reproduction of the truth by power underlined both by Foucault while switching from archaeology to genealogy and by Orwell represented in his dystopia, with a recent case from Turkey through a short media scan.

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Caner Özdemir
Caner Özdemir
Caner Özdemir | Middle East Technical University - Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi

1 COMMENT

  1. Yazara teşekkürler.
    Anlattıkları çok tanıdık bir manzaradır. Yaşınız kaç ise o kadar yıl geriye giderek bakın: Gücün mutlak olduğu zaman dilimlerinde aynı manzarayla karşılaşırsınız. Bu aynı zamanda şu ünlü deyişi haklı çıkarır: Güç yozlaştırır, mutlak güç mutlaka yozlaştırır. (Power corrupts, absolutee power corrupts absolutely)
    Muktedirler sahte bilgiyi (ODTÜ olaylarındaki gibi) sadece kendilerini ve eylemlerini halk tabanında meşrulaştırmak için değil; halkı kendi doğrultularında harekete geçirmek için de yaratıyorlar. Yakın gelecekte ülkemizin bulaştırılacağını kesinlikle öngördüğüm bölgesel savaşlara halkın nasıl canla başla katıldığını, muktedirlerin savaş planlarını onayladığını hep birlikte seyredeceğiz.
    Haber alma olanaklarının neredeyse sonsuzlaştığı günümüzde bunun bizim ülkemizdeki ölçüde mümkün olabilmesini açıklamak için bilimsel kuramlar yetersiz kalıyor.
    Türkiye’de sıradan insanın gerçek bilgiye ulaşması, labirentlerden çıkışı bulmak kadar zor: onlarca farklı kaynaktan doğrulamaları gerekir; ama bu pratik olarak ne yazık ki pek mümkün değil; çünkü birkaç dil bilmek ve her gün önemli bir maddi kaynağı bu işe ayırmak gerekli. Kısacası bu iş çok zor, çok.

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