Straight Up |: October 2008 Archives

I know because I saw it on my video screen:

There must be millions of cleverly individualized videos like this one circulating now. In other words, "all reality is an imitation," as a friend of mine, Bill Osborne, says. He cites Baudrillard.

Third Order of Simulacra: The present age -- dominated by simulations, things that have no original or prototype (though they may parallel something). Era of the model or code: computers, virtual reality, opinion polls, DNA, genetic engineering, cloning, the news media make the news, Nike sneakers as status symbols, Disneyland. The death of the real: no more counterfeits or prototypes, just simulations of reality -- hyperreality. Information replaces the machine as the basic mode of production.

"So," says Osborne, "the war In Iraq never happened for the vast majority of Americans. We perceive it only through the simulacra of the media (embedded or not) -- a plastic-wrapped CNN, MSNBC, NYT hyperreality coming right through the screen you are staring at at this very moment.  Asses that we are, we click the hyperlinks and Google for more info and analysis." He continues:

Colbert imitates O'Reilly, and is thus an imitation of an imitation journalist. When reality becomes mediated by the media, and thus a simulacrum, we take comfort in the simulacrum that parodies the simulacrum. This explains shows like The Onion, Jon Stewart, and Colbert.  We think we are being realisitic when we create simulacra that make us laugh at the "real" simulacra. Unfortunately, this has gone on for so long that we no longer remember anything but imitations. What we call reality is just a somewhat older imitation, like Harry Reasoner or David Brinkley.

"In short," he adds, "we laugh at the comic simulacra in order to feel we are being realistic, but they only add to an ever-spinning historical vortex of imitations of imitations of imitations.  Humor about journalism has long since become but one more part of the simulacra.
 
"And Lucy, Jerry, and Frasier become our friends, even our home life.
 
"And of course, I too am just more video screen bullshit. The real William Osborne was never there."

A counter-argument comes from another friend: "To be honest, I never much liked Baudrillard or the 'everything is simulation' school of thought," says Supervert. "Maybe it's because I don't watch TV. The 'fiction' that I read and admire always has a fundamental sort of reality to it. The same with music -- it offers the opportunity for experience, and therefore seems very real to me."

More broadly, the whole question of "reality" and what it is has never struck me as very interesting. I don't know why. I feel real, and I feel that my experiences are real, so it's nothing that troubles me. Even if you were to object that music, for example, is just a sign, I would reply that my experience of the sign is real and therefore has little to do with simulacra. I guess the problem would be if you internalized the simulacra, so that your response to external signs was like a mirror looking at a mirror.

Meanwhile, it's nice to know the Gasbag is "resting comfortably now," after being rescued from his campaign bus. "We bought him some black licorice and a book of puzzles," his spokesman said, "so that ought to keep him busy for a while."

John McCain Accidentally Left On Campaign Bus Overnight

Here in New York, the City Council backed Bloomberg's bid to run again.

The logic went like this: It would have been undemocratic to deprive voters of the chance to elect the mayor to a third term, despite the fact that voters had twice approved a two-term limit for elected officials. So the City Council did the democratic thing. It overturned the term-limits law.

This not only allows the mayor to run again, but enables two-term council members to keep their jobs by allowing them to run again, too. Let's see, 23 of the 29 who stood up for democracy would have had to leave the council otherwise.

Can't stomach the political campaign? The media spin? Neither can The Onion. Have a look:

Gunman Kills 15 Potential Voters In Crucial Swing State

Tip of the hat to a gimlet-eyed Straight Up staffer who sent it in.

Quick take on who won, besides Joe the Plumber.

CNN poll: Debate watchers say Obama wins.

Time magazine: McCain Threw the Sink -- and Plumber -- But Obama Doesn't Falter.

CBS poll: Uncommitted Voters Say Obama Won Final Debate.

So anyone who believes the kind of horseshit being dished up by George Stephanopoulos that the Gasbag did well in the opening minutes or put Obama on the defensive, as Newsweek had it (per AP), needs a new plumber.

I mean McCain of course. Seems to me that Andrew Sullivan, live-blogging last night's Nashville encounter between Obama and the overheated Gasbag, got it just about right:

9.51 pm. Why is McCain wandering around the stage .?. It's weird. He looks like an old man pacing aimlessly.

10.33 pm. This was, I think, a mauling: a devastating and possibly electorally fatal debate for McCain. Even on Russia, he sounded a little out of it. I've watched a lot of debates and participated in many. ... All I can say is that, simply on terms of substance, clarity, empathy, style and authority, this has not just been an Obama victory. It has been a wipe-out. It has been about as big a wipe-out as I can remember in a presidential debate. It reminds me of the 1992 Clinton-Perot-Bush debate. I don't really see how the McCain campaign survives this.

And the editorial cartoon Josh Brown posted this morning on his weekly visual blog Life During Wartime puts the exclamation point on it. Thanks, Josh.

One disclaimer, though. Methinks Sullivan places too much faith in the honky booboisie.

It's no surprise that Ralph Nader makes more sense than anyone else in politics. What's surprising is that, at 74, he is as smart and as principled as ever. Watch the video. It was recorded last week in San Francisco at The Commonwealth Club of California and runs a little more than an hour. Skip the first four minutes and forgive the production values. You'll also need some patience. The interviewer starts by going over old ground (i.e. the 2000 election). The good stuff begins about eight minutes in and then sails on right through to the end.

(Crossposted at HuffPo)