(holdover from last week...this week's post will be under separate cover)
Re: Baudrillard and the street
I think my point got lost in my unfortunate choice of example. But what I wanted to ask was: given what Baudrillard argues as the limits of technology juxtaposed against his seeming desire for something more like the street (with its simultaneous, instantaneous creation of meanings), I'm wondering if this, necessarily, means that media has no place in the latter? Or, more specifically, what would a media technology look like that could realize Baudrillard's vision?
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As far as I know, Baudrillard later abandoned the idea that "unmediated" subversive speech (for example, graffiti) is the proper alternative to a quasi-totalitarian mass-media where even dissent is incorporated into the system. After all, all speech is mediated, some way or another. Baudrillard's earlier work at least tried to conceptualize alternatives and strategies for change (though not very convincingly), but from about 75 on he just became more and more bleak and skeptical about everything.
However, to answer your question, there are ways of disseminating radical ideas on an "immediate" street level, though it's not necessarily that effective. An example that springs to mind is the grassroots, street-level strategies used by ETA, ranging from flyer distribution to "kale borroka" (organized street violence against property, cops etc).
Since part of Baudrillard's street preference seems to revolve around physical immediacy, I will also note from my discussions with my undergrad students about their Facebook experiences that they put great store in the visual presentation of their own and others' Facebook pages. For them, this seems to be an important criteria for assessing veracity and legitimacy, whether or not they can trust that the digital other and his or her message is genuine. This visual presentation judgment seems generally to trump and assessment of other content. They judge visual presentation first and foremost by the person's Facebook main ID picture, secondarily by the other pictures the person allows on his or her Facebook page. Then, at least according to their reports, they look at other content, if the person's pictures do not classify the person as "creepy." So, is this a simulation of the types of judgments we can make instantaneously on the street? Does the fact that pictures can be so easily faked make it a simulation? People on the street can simulate, too. (Like undercover police officers participating in demonstrations.)
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