POLITICAL THEORIST

Political Theorist

Political Theorist

Introduction

In seeking to understand postmodernism and modernism through Baudrillard's and Fish's writings, for they are both considered the iconic figures in postmodern and modern sociology respectively. Baudrillard and Fish both wrote articles exploring the lack of interrelation between subjectivity and objectivity and are considered legends in their respective era.

Baudrillard v Marx: a Comparison of Post modern and Modern Theories

Baudrillard's writings also present an increasingly real simulation of an inevitable calamity. In his book “Transparency”, Baudrillard notes that although virtual interfacing facilitates community by obscuring social barriers such age, race, and sex, this same interface allows for deception and pretense, leaving society vulnerable to "electronic impostors".(Peter, 2001, 45)

Man has always sought to find convergence at the level of thought that describes the universe as a distorted version of reality. Baudrillard asserts that symbols which are used to represent objects are drained of their meaning, a condition he terms hyper reality. According to this model, the connection between signifying systems and reality can be extraordinarily bewildering despite its illusions of clarity. Baudrillard additionally notes in “Simulations” that: "the real is not only what can be reproduced, but that which is always already reproduced". This is indicative of the philosopher's belief that nothing is truly original, real or imagined. Blending these concepts results in an amalgamation of philosophical theories that question the relationship between what we know to be real based on experience, and what we expect to be real based on supposition. The bottom line, according to Baudrillard, is that a virtual reality often reflects its message more forcefully than the authentic reality does, (Peter, 2001, 45) which therefore leads to a complete overshadowing of the actual truth.

Also inherent to Baudrillard's philosophies is the notion that human beings cannot tolerate the multifarious existence that our senses tells us we live in, so we begin to construct our own protected world; a world we call reality. The point both Baudrillard makes is that there is no proof that this reality is any more real than the virtual one. The threat, according to Baudrillard, emerges when mankind harbors the illusion that truth is an unambiguous entity. Baudrillard believes that even when distortion exists, it does not necessarily need to consume one's personality. While it is possible for the machine to metabolize the mind, it is not possible for the mind to metabolize reality if that reality is merely a propagated manifestation of the machine. (Macionis, 2005, 66)

Jean Baudrillard places a great deal of confidence in the power of the human mind. Yet in order to wholly validate the messages, one would have to conclude that society offers nothing more than a strategy of deterrence; or as Baudrillard states, the creation of “an imaginary effect concealing that reality no more exists outside than inside the bounds of the artificial perimeter" If human beings all function as a single entity, as this passage from “Simulations” implies, then the mind is nothing more than a receptor of whatever propaganda it is instructed to ...