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What's with the movie metaphor?

• braythwayt 7y ago
  Are you familiar with the expression “security theatre?” It doesn’t keep people safe, but it provides enough of the appearance of safety to make people feel like we’re doing everything we can. Justice theatre is the same thing. It doesn’t do anything about poverty or crime, but locking “scary people” up provides enough of the appearance of safety to make people feel like we’re doing everything we can. The fact that it is theatre, and not real policy, helps explain why it’s so tilted against the poor. They’re the scary people. — Theatre is the metaphor. Movie theatre, stage theatre, whatever you like. If you’d prefer not to use a metaphor, fine, but once a metaphor goes around a few times and people have a shared understanding of what it means, it provides a convenient shorthand for communicating something. “Security Theatre” has achieved a certain success as a metaphor. I’m trying to tap into how the justice system resembles the air traffic security system and the bank’s five questions systems and so on.
  • staticautomatic 7y ago
    Thanks for explaining. I think it's a little arbitrary as a metaphor but an interesting idea (I don't necessarily think "movie" when I think "theater"). I think it would have been clearer if you'd stuck to a single use. First we're showing the movie, then we're watching the movie, then we're making the movie. As a cognitive linguistic matter I'd probably consider those three different metaphors.
    • braythwayt 7y ago
      Useful feedback, thank you.