“Disobedience by religious fanaticism, resistance to work, and theft, the three great transgressions against bourgeois society, the three major offenses against its essential values, are not excusable, even by madness; they deserve imprisonment pure and simple, exclusion in the most rigorous sense of the term, since they all manifest the same resistance to the moral and social uniformity that forms the raison d’etre of Pinel’s asylum.” (Foucault, pg. 157)
We vaguely brought up this section of The Birth of the Asylum in class while also pairing it with the recent “No Camping” law being executed in Colorado Springs. I enjoyed some time researching this law and the recent Homeless Outreach branch of the CSPD to try and figure out just what is going on here. I found a number of articles and news coverage of this homelessness issue. This is one that I found most “useful”:
It appears as though the homeless of Colorado Springs are not attending church, not working (although this is blamed on Obama’s lack of job creation), and stealing valuable time from police officers and beauty of the land. It’s almost too obvious that the “No Camping” law is basically a reaction from the bourgeois society who feels as though something has been taken away from their “madness-free” society.
When I think of Colorado Springs I can’t help but think of what is likely the most visible and powerful bourgeois group, Focus on the Family. I can’t say that Focus on the Family is directly behind this ordinance, but I can say that they haven’t stepped up like other religious communities in the area to really solve this issue. Truth is, those visiting the Focus on the Family headquarters might see real poverty and question the idea that trusting and believing in God is all that you need to do for a healthy life. Whether or not FOTF has anything to do with this ordinance, I think it’s certain that they don’t have anything against it.
Colorado Springs is basically operating as a society so plainly described by Foucault with their very obvious “not in my backyard” mentality, even going so far as to buying one-way bus tickets for homeless persons (using language of “family reuniting”). I really wish this wasn’t so depressing (although what in Foucault isn’t depressing?!), but the truth is, deviating from the norm is always going to leave you penalized and classified as “insane.”
I’ve tried to imagine how I would react to this situation if I were the mayor of Colorado Springs. I would certainly be torn between my belief in individual freedom and issues of safety/sanitation. I think there is no question that I would only be okay with such an ordinance if there were already enough forms of shelter available for those living under the freeway. I would also be conscious of employment and living wage issues. I would also want to provide some sort of training (primarily for those in law enforcement) to eliminate the stereotypes surrounding the homeless population. Either way, I’d still be acting as the watchful eye to someone, somewhere and maybe in the end I’d just buy one-way bus tickets for all the bourgeois and turn Colorado Springs into a deviant’s oasis.
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