Obituaries (Jean Baudrillard (1929 - 2007))

[Nile577]

"French sociologist and philosopher Jean Baudrillard has died aged 77 at his home in Paris following a long illness. Baudrillard, a leading post-modernist thinker, is perhaps best known for his concept of hyper-reality. He argued that spectacle is crucial in creating our view of events - things do not happen if they are not seen.

He gained notoriety for his 1991 book The Gulf War Did Not Take Place and again a decade later for describing the 9/11 attacks as a "dark fantasy". Baudrillard focused his work on how our consciousness interacts with reality and fantasy, creating from them a copy world he called hyper-reality. He said that mass media led to hyper-reality becoming a dominant force in today's world - an argument taken to a provocative extreme in his statement that the 1991 Gulf War primarily took place on a symbolic level. Since little was changed politically in Iraq after the conflict, all the sound and fury signified little, he argued.

In his essay The Spirit of Terrorism: Requiem for the Twin Towers, he caused controversy again by describing the 9/11 attacks as a fusion of history, symbolism and dark fantasy, "the mother of all events". While terrorists had committed the atrocity, he wrote: "It is we who have wanted it. Terrorism is immoral, and it responds to a globalisation that is itself immoral."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6425389.stm

 

[Nile577]

Interesting how obituaries 'give order' to life. Interesting how Baudrillard's works could only ever be discussed in mainstream media upon his death, or when sensationalised. In obituaries, art, music, thought and science seem to be attributed to the individual, "that Nature might stand up and say to all the world 'This was a man!" Newspapers publish reverential obituaries for widly divergent achievements. Perhaps there is respect for a central drive to engage with life, irrespective from the qualitative results?

When German philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote on death, he noted that when we read about someone's passing in fiction or in reality we attempt to see his or her life holistically, as 'closed' and ‘finished.’ To the reader, death presents a point of fixed order, an end to anxiety. We all secretly wish for this order but will never live to know it. For Benjamin, one warms the spectre of his own life by seeing the order that death invests in the lives of others.

I would be interested to know people’s thoughts on obituaries. Are they wholesome things, celebrating the work of those who should inspire, even if (to put it crudely) their argument differs from our own, or are they symptomatic of a broken societal relationship with death? Should men be remembered for their works? Can we engage in relativism whereby we respect those we violently disagree with, simply because they expressed passion, ('objective?') ability and creative intent?

 

[Nile577]

This thread reminds me of one of my favourite poems, written by 'Scourge of God' (from these forums) - although perhaps, in this context, attributing the author seems rather antithetical to the work's content, I hope he will not mind me reproducing it here:

"American Socrates"

It lay there
in the lengthening shadow of an ancient oak
no name
no words
just hand hewn limestone
1819-1872
a monument to a man who knew himself
What else even matters?

Oriinally published in Exponentiation zine

 

[Nile577]

Here is the complete obituary from The Times (for anyone interested). Click the thumbnails to view.

"Jean Baudrillard - Postmodernist provocateur and cultural theorist who blamed consumerism for destroying reality"

Part 1



Part 2

 

[speed]

A true shame. I think he was the only philosopher Ive read who properly understood the modern, or postmodern world.

 

[MURAI]

Do you have any links to his writing online?

 

[speed]

Do you have any links to his writing online?

http://www.ubishops.ca/BaudrillardStudies/

An online journal dedicated to old Jean.

I will warn everyone, by the early 90's, he was quite prone to making very controversial and somewhat ludicrous, but strangely sane, pronouncements on very popular things, like modern media, politics, etc. He liked to stir the pot--thus my love for him.

 

[speed]

This thread reminds me of one of my favourite poems, written by 'Scourge of God' (from these forums) - although perhaps, in this context, attributing the author seems rather antithetical to the work's content, I hope he will not mind me reproducing it here:

"American Socrates"

It lay there
in the lengthening shadow of an ancient oak
no name
no words
just hand hewn limestone
1819-1872
a monument to a man who knew himself
What else even matters?

Oriinally published in Exponentiation zine

Who does this poem reference?

Its ok. Good, but not great. Amazing and wonderful it was posted here though. Scourge of God is a special and very intelligent fellow.

 

[speed]

Interesting how obituaries 'give order' to life. Interesting how Baudrillard's works could only ever be discussed in mainstream media upon his death, or when sensationalised. In obituaries, art, music, thought and science seem to be attributed to the individual, "that Nature might stand up and say to all the world 'This was a man!" Newspapers publish reverential obituaries for widly divergent achievements. Perhaps there is respect for a central drive to engage with life, irrespective from the qualitative results?

When German philosopher Walter Benjamin wrote on death, he noted that when we read about someone's passing in fiction or in reality we attempt to see his or her life holistically, as 'closed' and ‘finished.’ To the reader, death presents a point of fixed order, an end to anxiety. We all secretly wish for this order but will never live to know it. For Benjamin, one warms the spectre of his own life by seeing the order that death invests in the lives of others.

I would be interested to know people’s thoughts on obituaries. Are they wholesome things, celebrating the work of those who should inspire, even if (to put it crudely) their argument differs from our own, or are they symptomatic of a broken societal relationship with death? Should men be remembered for their works? Can we engage in relativism whereby we respect those we violently disagree with, simply because they expressed passion, ('objective?') ability and creative intent?

Ive been thinking about this since you posted it, and you know, I still dont have a good answer. A few lines of Petrarch come back to me, but I will have to find the sonnet.