Hotdog
Well-Known Member
NAOS had it in his sig-- it's a sociological term popularized by Michel Foucault, in reference to a Panoptical prison (hypothetical prison where a guard can see every prisoner at all times, but the prisoner can't see the guard-- so the prisoners self regulate their behaviour out of fear, and no punishment is ever needed). Foucault used it regarding modern society, and how bureaucracies and popular media condition us to lose individuality, and self-regulate ourselves without thinking.
I imagine that NAOS was probably referring to the STG as imposing this sort of self-regulation where every Poster on Jazzfanz felt compelled to copy the posting habits of the STG, or they'd stop posting altogether. You'd have to ask him about it.
stop copying and pasting stuff from the dictionary