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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