orbis quintus

For those who care-

PARIS: Jean Baudrillard, a French philosopher and social theorist known for his provocative commentaries on consumerism, excess and what he said was the disappearance of reality, has died, his publishing house said. He was 77.

Baudrillard died Tuesday at his home in Paris after a long illness, said Michel Delorme, of the Galilee publishing house.

The two men had worked together since 1977, when “Oublier Foucault” (Forget Foucault) was published, one of about 30 books by Baudrillard, Delorme said by telephone.

Among his last published books was “Cool Memories V,” in 2005.

Baudrillard, a sociologist by training, is perhaps best known for his concepts of “hyperreality” and “simulation.”
Baudrillard advocated the idea that spectacle is crucial in creating our view of events — what he termed “hyperreality.” Things do not happen if they are not seen to happen.

He gained fame, and notoriety, in the English-speaking world for his 1991 book “The Gulf War Did Not Take Place.” In the first Gulf War, he claimed, nothing was as it appeared.

The public’s — and even the military’s — view of the conflict came largely through television images; Saddam Hussein was not defeated; the U.S.-led coalition scarcely battled the Iraqi military and did not really win, since little was changed politically in Iraq after all the carnage. All the sound and fury signified little, he argued.

The Sept. 11 attacks, in contrast, were the hyper-real event par excellence — a fusion of history, symbolism and dark fantasy, “the mother of all events.”

His views on the attacks sparked controversy. While terrorists had committed the atrocity, he wrote, “It is we who have wanted it. . . . Terrorism is immoral, and it responds to a globalization that is itself immoral.”

Although many Americans were puzzled by his views, Baudrillard was a tireless enthusiast for the United States — though he once called it “the only remaining primitive society.”

“Santa Barbara is a paradise; Disneyland is a paradise; the U.S. is a paradise,” he wrote. “Paradise is just paradise. Mournful, monotonous, and superficial though it may be, it is paradise. There is no other.”

French Education Minister Gilles de Robien said “We lose a great creator.”

“Jean Baudrillard was one of the great figures of French sociological thought.”

Born west of Paris in Reims on June 20, 1929, Baudrillard, the son of civil servants, began a long teaching career instructing high school students in German. After receiving a doctorate in sociology, he taught at the University of Paris in Nanterre.

Link.

The Procession of Simulacra is a heck of a thought…

Did anyone NOT know she was a narrow minded, simple, rabble-rousing demagogue? She has to say “faggot” for people to realize this?

People are playing into her hands and making her richer.

(postcount++)

I had nearly forgotten…

The CSM has an article on the escalating violence in the country:

KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN – Along Afghanistan’s long southern frontier, the guns of spring have begun. For months, the Taliban has warned that when the highland snows melt, they will unleash their largest offensive since falling from power in 2001.

In recent weeks, the tempo of Taliban attacks has increased, hinting at the opening of the spring campaign. Last weekend alone, insurgents detonated a bomb in the western city of Herat and performed what US officials called a “complex ambush” near the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Tuesday, NATO responded in kind, launching Operation Achilles, its largest offensive ever in the country, at the Afghan government’s request. With some 4,500 NATO troops and 1,000 Afghan soldiers, the operation is a bold attempt to preempt the Taliban’s first blows and take the initiative.

It is also a clear escalation of the stakes, with both sides seeing this as a year that could determine the future of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government. And it is here in the Afghan south that the hammer blow is expected to fall hardest.

A resurgent Taliban is a horrible thing. I posted years ago on An Unexpected Light, a book that was surprisingly well written, insightful, and informative (I was expecting a cardboard travel-tale). It fostered in me a sort of irrational interest in the country, and I’ve tried my best to keep at least one eye on developments there. The news is depressing. It is clear that we are at a crossroads in Afghanistan. We need a competent, subtle, and intelligent “hearts and minds” campaign, as another article points out (via IHT), and so far we ain’t doing so good…

KABUL: Spend some time in Brussels and Kabul with the soldiers and civilians of NATO and you’ll hear the same thing: If there ever was a place and a time when winning support of the local population would help win a war, the place is Afghanistan — and the time is now.

Afghanistan is beginning to thaw, which means a spring offensive against the Taliban looms. Perhaps that’s why NATO troops, cobbled together from 36 countries into the International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, have begun publicly promoting their efforts to avoid harming ordinary Afghans…

Wow! Great first step!

Some nations don’t think they should pay for combat accidents or casualties their troops did not actually cause, missing the point that if NATO is going to work it has to work together. Other countries want to avoid mixing the military mission with humanitarian endeavors.

There’s also the worry that giving aid to civilians harmed by the military would lay a political minefield back home, seeming to expand the mission when constituents want their troops back as quickly as possible.

Those concerns are little consolation to Afghan families who lost an estimated one thousand homes as a result of ISAF’s Operation Medusa in September, which NATO said had driven Taliban forces out of a stronghold in the southern province of Kandahar.

Nor are they comforting to the loved ones of the dozen nomads killed during October military strikes in the southern Panjwayi and Pashmul districts of Kandahar.

The mission here is NATO’s first outside of Europe, and the world is watching. NATO members who don’t donate to ISAF’s relief fund or to The Leahy Initiative are essentially backing out of a mission that would help them stabilize the country faster by fostering goodwill and beating the Taliban at their own game. This is a war you can’t win unless you win the people.

A few points on the above:

1. I think that “constituents” want our men to fight terrorism and to fight it effectively. I haven’t heard much negative about the legitimacy of our mission in Afghanistan, only that the effort is underwhelming. The same, obviously, cannot be said for that other war.

2. Was NATO this confused and inefficient in the Balkans?

And in light of all the Ayaan Hirsi Ali hubbub, let us not forget what we are up against (those latter two via metafilter).

And another thing!!!!!

Is it really a good time to be doing this, fellas?