Reality Alibis

Buadrillard spews volcano of theories at us which erupt from disparate intellectual craters—Classical Marxism, Frankfurt School, Semeiology, Anthropology, Neo-Marxism? so on and so forth. But all his theories boil down to one main idea: is reality still with us, or are we immersed in fantasia of signs.He answers this doubt himself by foregrounding his abstruse theory of “simulacra.” Baudrillard theorizes that the society is not just buying into signs, but at the same time is busy controlling this code of signification. He upholds a new form class differentiation. The elite are not separated from the mass by purchasing power alone, but by their sole and privileged access to signs. I think this angle of class differentiation can be a useful tool of studying the modern cyber culture. We may here equate sign of power with information in its totality—accumulation, transfer, and distribution. The more information we enjoy or have the better situated we are, or so we think. As a result the modern distinction of power lies with the manipulation of information alone. But as we deal with this question of power and information does it matter what medium is at our disposal? Can we conform that “medium is indeed the message?” Is the World Wide Web exacerbating the social divide or is it the “final solution?”Baudrillard’s claims may sometimes look idiosyncratic, but putting them in a certain historical perspective might force us to rethink our notion of power, class, and above all information. As a privileged community who has considerable access to information, does it entail some degree of responsibility on our part?