AsToldByGinger, Baudrillard

In Baudrillard's The Spirit of Terrorism, some of what was discussed in class came to light in the reading. Baudrillard talks of how images are our primal scene, and it is what we base our reality off of, we have no choice. He then brings in the idea of these images into our sense of reality and fantasy and states, "we might almost say that reality is jealous of fiction, that the real is jealous of the image... it is a kind of duel between them, a contest to see which can be the most unimaginable" ( C 228). I believe that this quote can be seen in many action moves in which entire cities are blown due to aliens invading or other sci-fi scenarios. Baudrillard believes that this jealousy of fiction can transfer into acts of terror such a 9/11, in which he explains how society
perpetuates the circle of terrorism due to the fascination.

Baudrillard then begins to talk about massacre and states that society forgives massacre if it is for good reason, or "good violence." I understand what he is saying here, however morally illogical, though a recent example would help me to understand the concept better. I do however understand what he further comments on about the media saying, "there is no 'good' use of the media, the media are part of the event, they are part of the terror, ad they work in both directions" (C 229). I believe this is true in the entirety of the statement, and such examples are the tragic Batman massacre as well as the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings we discussed in class. Thankfully the media tamed back for the Sandy Hook shooting in not glorifying the shooter, as they famously did the the Batman shooter only five months prior.

Overall I think Baudrillard has extremely relevant topics to todays terrorism, especially with the further development of technology and social media news as a whole. The fantasy of terrorism and the image of it is perpetuated through ourselves and the media at an alarming rate. Signs of change do seem near, and I hope that we can continue to move in a direction that differs from the one Baudrillard describes.