{"id":1677,"date":"2008-10-26T08:54:29","date_gmt":"2008-10-26T15:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp\/2008\/10\/yeah_its_all_my_fault\/"},"modified":"2008-10-26T08:54:29","modified_gmt":"2008-10-26T15:54:29","slug":"yeah_its_all_my_fault","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/2008\/10\/yeah_its_all_my_fault.html","title":{"rendered":"Yeah, It’s All My Fault"},"content":{"rendered":"

I know because I saw it on my video screen:
\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/object><\/center>
\nThere 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<\/a>, says. He cites Baudrillard.<\/p>\n

Third Order of Simulacra:<\/strong>\u00a0The 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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“So,” says Osborne, “the war In Iraq never happened for the vast majority of Americans. We\u00a0perceive it only through the simulacra of the\u00a0media (embedded or not) — a plastic-wrapped CNN, MSNBC, NYT\u00a0hyperreality coming right through the screen you are staring at at this very moment.\u00a0\u00a0Asses that we are, we click the hyperlinks and\u00a0Google\u00a0for more info and analysis.” He continues:<\/p>\n

Colbert imitates O’Reilly, and is thus an imitation of an imitation journalist.\u00a0When\u00a0reality becomes\u00a0mediated by the media, and thus a simulacrum,\u00a0we take comfort in the simulacrum that parodies the simulacrum.\u00a0This explains\u00a0shows\u00a0like The Onion, Jon Stewart, and Colbert.\u00a0\u00a0We think we are being realisitic when we create simulacra that make us laugh at the “real” simulacra.\u00a0Unfortunately, this has gone on for so long that we\u00a0no longer\u00a0remember\u00a0anything but imitations.\u00a0What we call reality is just a somewhat older imitation, like Harry Reasoner or David Brinkley.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“In short,” he adds, “we laugh at the comic simulacra in order to feel we are being realistic, but they only add to an\u00a0ever-spinning historical vortex of imitations of imitations of imitations.\u00a0 Humor about journalism has long since\u00a0become but one more part of the simulacra.
\n\u00a0
\n“And Lucy, Jerry, and Frasier\u00a0become our friends, even our home life.
\n\u00a0
\n“And of course, I too am just more video screen bullshit. The real William Osborne was never there.”
\nA counter-argument comes from another friend: “To be honest, I never much liked Baudrillard or the ‘everything is simulation’ school of thought,” says Supervert<\/a>. “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.”<\/p>\n

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.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Meanwhile, it’s nice to know the Gasbag<\/a> 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.”
\n


John McCain Accidentally Left On Campaign Bus Overnight<\/a><\/center>
\n(Crossposted at HuffPo)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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:\u00a0The present age — dominated by simulations, things that have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1677","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbvgEs-r3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1677\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/herman\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}