"Inside The Safest School In America" - Pratik Nyaupane Non core post

 This video is a feature piece from NBC News, showcasing a high school in Indiana that is supposedly the "safest school" in the United States, which essentially is a dystopian example of the school as a carceral institution. Besides the fact that this video is not a parody, there is an endless commentary to be had about the media's role in manufacturing the relationship between technology and the police state. Even with the assumption that police protect people, the law enforcement office that monitors the school via technology is still 10 miles away. In case of any horrific incident, the sensors or cameras are designated as the tools that keep the school safe, but obviously the technology itself doesn't do anything besides maybe notify authority who may choose to do something about it after the fact.

Mainly, I think this video is a significant example of technology as it mediates notions of security, privacy, and safety. The carceral techonologies implemented in the classroom construct this reality of the smart school/campus, but entirely ignore the conditions in which issues of gun violence and threats to school safety are enabled. Rather technology and digital instruments are viewed as solutions to the instances of problems as opposed to dealing with the systemic issues at hand.