I have to say this week’s reading is pretty hard. I have to read over and over to get a glimpse of the reading. This section mainly discusses simulation on the level of war. First of all, to my understanding, Baudrillard believes that peace and war is a paradox. If the perfection of the best system control is the goal, then the norm of security is what must be established after the war, and that’s when the nuclear race starts. Then he continues to compare this with socialisation. “(…) the meticulous operation of technology serves as a model for the meticulous operation of the social”, Baudrillard writes, on social level, the result is an inverse, irreversible implosion.
However, whether it is the nuclear race or the space race, everything is merely a simulation. The bombardment of Hanoi is a way to advance the compromise for both Vietnam and the US. Then he quoted “War is peace.”, by Orwell. War and peace: the two contradictory poles can implode into one and liquidation. The war has already reached its conclusion before it begins. The world needs conflict to prove that it indeed exists. Now, after all these have happened, nuclear power is the deterrence that is keeping the peace.
zx.lyu 