VOICES | FOREIGN AGENDA
BY DAMIAN FLANAGAN
When it was revealed that Pico Iyer knew only a "smattering" of Japanese despite living in Japan for 25 years, some were critical. However, could there be artistic benefits to not being fluent?
He is vowing to stick to his deadline of October 31st, however
ECONOMIST.COM
Boris Johnson's Brexit strategy has been blown to smithereens
MPs kicked the can down the road. Again
smattering
n.
- Superficial or piecemeal knowledge: “a smattering of everything, and a knowledge of nothing” (Charles Dickens). 略知萬事 無ㄧ真知
- A small, scattered amount or number: a smattering of raindrops.
noun
INFORMAL
- small pieces."a grenade blew him to smithereens"
關鍵詞：Panopticon
曾被頌揚為偉大解放者的網路，如今卻被揭露出另一種本質——蘇聯夢寐以求的監控機器，誘惑民眾拿個人隱私換取娛樂和消遣。對於跨國企業紛紛迫於壓力屈從中國的現象，時報專欄作者Ross Douthat直指互聯網成為了一個「圓形監獄」（Panopticon）。
他寫道，在其中，「所有想跟中國做生意的人都必須面對中國民族主義製造的共識和中共中央的牢騷政治」。
Panopticon：圓形監獄與無所不在的監視
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西方世界對北京的恐懼正在蔓延。時報專欄作者Ross Douthat指出，“ 中美共同體 ”的概念已不復存在；美國不但沒能向中國輸出自由主義，反而被中國的極權主義步步緊逼。
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中國政府對互聯網的利用發揮了關鍵作用。在近期的文章中 ，Douthat寫道，這一工具曾被頌揚為偉大的解放者，卻在威權政府手中成了監控機器。在這個“全球性的圓形監獄(panopticon)”裡，所有想跟中國做生意的人都必須服從中共的意志。
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Panopticon是一種監獄的設計形式，由18世紀末的英國哲學家傑里米·邊沁提出。其牢房呈放射狀排列，位於中央的警衛可以輕易監視所有囚犯，故而該詞常被譯為“圓形監獄”、“全景敞視監獄”。
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一種設計為如右圖所示：四周的環形建築分隔成一個個囚室，囚室的一端面向外界，用於採光，另一端面向中間一座用於監視的高塔，這樣這座高塔中的監視人員可以時刻監視到任何一間囚室，而囚室中的犯人因為逆光效果，無法看到監視人員，會疑心自己時刻受到監視，惶惶不可終日。這樣可以減少監視人員的數量。
邊沁描述它為︰
| “ | 一種新的監視形式，其力量之大是前所未見的。 | ” |
| —— 傑里米·邊沁 | ||
The panopticon is a type of institutional building and a system of control designed by the English philosopher and social theorist Jeremy Bentham in the 18th century. The concept of the design is to allow all prisoners of an institution to be observed by a single security guard, without the inmates being able to tell whether they are being watched.
Although it is physically impossible for the single guard to observe all the inmates' cells at once, the fact that the inmates cannot know when they are being watched means that they are motivated to act as though they are being watched at all times. Thus, the inmates are effectively compelled to regulate their own behaviour. The architecture consists of a rotunda with an inspection house at its centre. From the centre the manager or staff of the institution are able to watch the inmates. Bentham conceived the basic plan as being equally applicable to hospitals, schools, sanatoriums, and asylums, but he devoted most of his efforts to developing a design for a panopticon prison. It is his prison that is now most widely meant by the term "panopticon".
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