File spoon-archives/baudrillard.archive/baudrillard_2001/baudrillard.0102, message 25


From: Salwa Ghaly <sghaly-AT-sharjah.ac.ae>
Subject: RE: baudrillard & the Gulf War
Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2001 21:30:57 +0400


Robert,

Thanks for your comments which did *not* offend, I assure you.  I am in no
way seeking to divert attention away from Baudrillardian issues, all of
which are worthy, hence my subscription to this long-dormant list.  In fact,
what prompted me to "butt in" was not at all Baudrillard or his reading of
how the American people in general responded to the Gulf War, for he is
right on. Rather, it was the curt comment made by a list member comparing
losses in Kosovo and Iraq that drove me to signal that in the latter the
human tragedy is certainly on a much more massive scale. 

Perched on some hotel roof in Baghdad, a CNN reporter covering live the US
bombing of a bridge gleefully and callously announced "and here's a shot of
the luckiest man in Iraq tonight," referring to a car that had barely made
it across before the bridge went up in flames.  I can still hear the
reporter's voice today.  This was not a merely a glib comment in bad taste,
but one that spoke volumes about the role several regulatory bodies
collaborated in desensitizing the American people.  Indeed, these
institutions orchestrated the collective response that we now attribute to
"the fate of the sign." 

All I am saying here is, let us not wittingly or unwittlingly play into the
hands of regressive forces in America or elsewhere.  Baudrillard does a good
job of reading the American people. [As an aside, I would go further:  JB's
diagnosis and what Robert says about Metropolitan suburbia certainly applies
to where I am right now in the Gulf.  The only place I lived in where people
generally have a heightened level of political awareness is Lebanon, the
legacy of the civil war perhaps ...]

Where Baudrillard is at his very best, however, is when he maps out the
trajectory of the sign.  For me, this is where he makes a truly meaningful
and relevant contribution.  But when it comes to praxis, I much prefer to
read Deleuze.  And I'm no baby boomer either, just a person who was lucky
enough to witness firsthand how one's voice can sometimes make a difference,
if only in small measure, a person eager to safeguard the rights we take for
granted today lest they too be lost.  Read Margaret Atwood's _Handmaid's
Tale_ for a taste of postmodern dystopia.

Now I can go back to "lurk mode."
     
Salwa G.


-----Original Message-----
From: Robert Enriquez
To: 'baudrillard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu'
Sent: 2/14/01 7:45 PM
Subject: RE: baudrillard & the Gulf War

Dear Dr. Ghaly;

Your points are well made and I would sincerely hope that my response to
them would not be taken as an X Generation lashing out against the baby
boomers here.  But, what strides have the previous generations really
made
in Baudrillardian terms? The excesses of the 80's and now the inevitable
simulacrum to come propagated by those generations before us will leave
the
20 and 30 something's of today with nothing to grasp of reality but
"televisual virtuality" as you put it.  Did my generation derive the
concepts of competitive advantage, mass customization and global
homogenization that are touted as the "next best thing" in order to
create
new corporate revenue streams?  No these were things invented by the
previous generations and we are living them, thank you.  Sure activism
against the state of mass marketing and governmental intervention is a
legitimate stance but even it is only simulation at best.  But I think
you
underestimate the power of mindless, senseless, soulless dodos; as you
put
it, in large groups.  Baudrillard's silent majority is much more
dangerous,
deadly and powerful an animal than Neitzsche's herd ever hoped to be.
The
over-man and women of the world are not exactly dead but "rocking the
vote"
is not a valid line of attack for these individuals.  

Maybe the people you associate with in America are the intelligencia we
would all like to sit around the campfire with.  However, I work in
corporate America in a vacant downtown in Midwest nowhere and I can
speak
from experience here; the suburbs are chucked full of the silent
majority
blissfully consuming all in site.  For them consuming is rebellion at
exponential growth.  For them NPR is "all things considered" and forget
the
rest.  Forget the homeless in the corporate park I see across the street
from my cubicle, they are simply holograms or actors bused in daily;
they
simply don't exist.  I don't pretend to know what is happening in the
world
nor do the vast majority of individuals I know either.  I only know what
CNN
and Reuters bothers to report and in that the Socratic maximum holds
true,
my knowledge is worth nothing.  Objective reality is hard to gain access
to
and I don't believe the activism of previous generations has solved that
problem at all.  At least with Baudrillard I can hope to someday awake
from
my slumber look at the cave wall and say hey, let's go see what's
outside
the cave and have a cigarette. Sure, we must remain vigilant as you put
it,
but have you ever tried punching a beanbag filled with Jell-O; it
doesn't
hurt it.  Neither does lecturing the hippies turned yuppies in the
"burbs".
JFK, John Lennon and Jack Kerouac are dead while Micheal Chriton, Ringo
and
Vince McMann live on; long live Baudrillard.  I hope this informs more
than
offends and I look forward to this list at last talking about
Baudrillard in
the sense that we are living the reality his works speak about.  

Robert C. Enriquez

   

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