Simulation. Surveillance, and Risk Society?

Bogard said that surveillance is not just about maintaining and reproducing social order but it is also "a fantasy of power" driven by simulation, which Baudrillard defines as "feining what one doesn't have." I kept on thinking about risk society and how Bogard's concept of surveillance as not just controlling things that are happening but controlling what can happen (imaginary happenings) in the real world can apply to risk society. America has become a greater risk society post 9-11 (fear, anxiety, panic have driven Americans to prepare for diasters that have not happened but COULD happen by stocking up duct tapes, altering schedules according to the color coded security system, and most of all, preemptive strike). It was the imagination/simulation of what could have happend with the WMDs that triggered the Bush Administration to invade Iraq. I think this is where Baudrillard's use of the word, "deterrence," comes in handy as it is a strategy of preempting reality.

MSNBC's reality show, To Catch a Predator, seems to best capture the trinity of simulation, surveillance, and risk society. The show uses hidden cameras to monitor and capture the POTENTIAL child sex abusers who have made contacts with children (who are posed by volunteers from Perverted Justice, an online watchdog group for child sex offenders). The problem with this show is that it is not about punishing people who have committed the crime but who MIGHT violate the law (a very Minority Report like situation). The show is not about correcting the broken system that enables children sex labor, sexual abuse, and kidnapping to continue but rather covering up that the system is broken by highlighting one or two individuals that might violate the law. In this sense, To Catch a Predator is like the Watergate Scandal, which Baudrillard argued was a scapegoat incident to cover the pervasive corruption in the political field. By preempting strike on the potential lawbreakers through a simulated surveillance, the show provides a false sense of security in the risk society that crimes will be prevented when in reality (if there is such thing), the system remains broken.