From: steve.devos-AT-krokodile.com
Date: Sun, 14 Oct 2001 18:30:18 +0100
Subject: Re: terror




Mal and All

The piece referred to below is typical Baudriallard - melancholic and 
lost in a nostalgia for a disappeared and dead symbolic (order) from 
which is derived the loss of meaning, the transparency of events 
'annihaliated on the television screen'. Actually the reverse is 
probably true, the events of the 9/11 written largely on the mass-media 
directly impacted people and from which they created their own 
conclusions, based on their own social imaginary constructs...

There is a suggestion that terroism in the form Baudriallard discusses 
it has 'no political impact', dissappearing perhaps in the face of media 
saturated world into a lack of meaning.  The section where he discusses 
the 'system' does not contradict this since the system is 
'extra-political', functioning as an all inclusive term, that is 
'checked' by terroism. As if terror is simply a question... Nothing he 
states can halt the 'hegemonic system'.... It is not the terroist act 
against the system which is terroristic but the system itself. He wants 
the banality of the system to be clear but his alternative is simply to 
awful to contemplate. Curiously because it was written prior to the 
reemergence of the theologically justified actors (terrorists) of the 
present it seems even more dated than it did last time I looked at it...

Whilst nice prose theoretically it doesn't hold together - it's not even 
clear that he understands the way the media functions... it never was.

Perhaps it's a matter of reading the events through Hannah Arendt's work.

regards
sdv

Matthew Asher Levy wrote:

> Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulation "On Nihilism"
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>
>     From: steve.devos-AT-krokodile.com <mailto:steve.devos-AT-krokodile.com>
>
>     To: lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>     <mailto:lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu>
>
>     Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 3:34 PM
>
>     Subject: Re: terror
>
>
>     Hugh and All
>
>     What is becoming increasingly interesting is the lack of serious
>     philosophical writing on terroism. I've spent the past few days
>     searching for interesting writing on terror and terroism and
>     actually there is remarkably little.
>
>     That is not to say there is nothing on state terrorism and the
>     terror related to the state and power. Just very little that i've
>     identifed that directly addresses those hopeless acts of terror
>     inflicted on a human population, such as the 911 event.
>
>     Thoughts and suggestions anyone?
>
>     regards
>     sdv
>
>     hbone wrote:
>
>>Steve wrote,
>>
>>>From here it seems obvious that both the terrorists and the G8 are
>>
>>>plainly unjust, but let me be fair - it is extremely hard to decide if
>>>the criteria for the evaluation of whether a given act is just or
>>>unjust, are real or not. The ethics of the situation become extremely
>>>problematic since it is impossible to compare like for like. It is
>>>almost as if  it is up to everyone to decide for themselves..
>>>
>>
>>Agreed.
>>
>>Unfortunately, both religious and irreligious are hooked on sacrificial
>>death.  That sentiment of sacrifice is at the center of Christianity as well
>>as Bin-Laden''s  heaven-bound suicides.
>>
>>Hugh
>>
>>
>>
>

HTML VERSION:

Baudrillard Simulacra and Simulation "On Nihilism"

----- Original Message -----

From: steve.devos-AT-krokodile.com

To: lyotard-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu

Sent: Friday, October 12, 2001 3:34 PM

Subject: Re: terror

Hugh and All

What is becoming increasingly interesting is the lack of serious philosophical writing on terroism. I've spent the past few days searching for interesting writing on terror and terroism and actually there is remarkably little.

That is not to say there is nothing on state terrorism and the terror related to the state and power. Just very little that i've identifed that directly addresses those hopeless acts of terror inflicted on a human population, such as the 911 event.

Thoughts and suggestions anyone?

regards
sdv

hbone wrote:

Steve wrote,

>From here it seems obvious that both the terrorists and the G8 are

plainly unjust, but let me be fair - it is extremely hard to decide if
the criteria for the evaluation of whether a given act is just or
unjust, are real or not. The ethics of the situation become extremely
problematic since it is impossible to compare like for like. It is
almost as if  it is up to everyone to decide for themselves..

Agreed.

Unfortunately, both religious and irreligious are hooked on sacrificial
death.  That sentiment of sacrifice is at the center of Christianity as well
as Bin-Laden''s  heaven-bound suicides.

Hugh