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ionelvMy brother mentioned Baudrillard vis-à-vis a discussion about Bubba Gump Shrimp Co's bench with empty shoes (a real company derived from the fictional Forrest Gump) at Cancun Airport:
So, it really tickled me that my brother is familiar with Baudrillard (a contemporary philosopher with some of my favorites: Foucault, Derrida). So, I looked up Baudrillard's most famous work, 1981's Simulacres et Simulation and I found it in PDF form in both French and English. I was curious if he commented on Christianity (as I consider it ripe for this type of analysis; e.g. America's mainstream Protestant Christianity that preaches prosperity theology, limited government and increasingly nativism as well). I found only one paragraph, but it cuts deep:
Overall, my impression is that JB's simulacra applies aptly to Christianity (and all organized religion in general): the initial attempts to confer meaning and direction have been slowly replaced and corrupted into an unrecognizable performative Christianity (insert here your favorite religion flavor for personal taste). Even more generally, all current simulacra and simulation is a predictable corollary of the Law of Entropy and the game of Chinese Whispers played at a grand scale across many generations.
Late edit: By semi-random chance, I found an excellent summary dissection of American's unique chrapitalism (extracted from McCarraher's 2013 review of 2012 Critchley's Faith of the Faithless). In closing, I will add here one more quote from JB's book:
it’s simulacrum exactly as Baudrillard described. It is no longer a crude copy or imitation of American history and culture, it is now the new true and authoritative version of American history and culture. Right next to the TGI Friday’s ToGo.
Not only is Cancun airport completely stripped of authentic Mexican culture and filled with Mexican simulacrum, it has American simulacrum. Cancun is without error in its design for brainless gringoery. The unwashed not only can be free from this country’s rich culture and history, but also their own country’s.
It is so well done that I cannot accept that it became this way without intent or will. I am a Creationist for the cultural oblivion of Cancun airport.
So, it really tickled me that my brother is familiar with Baudrillard (a contemporary philosopher with some of my favorites: Foucault, Derrida). So, I looked up Baudrillard's most famous work, 1981's Simulacres et Simulation and I found it in PDF form in both French and English. I was curious if he commented on Christianity (as I consider it ripe for this type of analysis; e.g. America's mainstream Protestant Christianity that preaches prosperity theology, limited government and increasingly nativism as well). I found only one paragraph, but it cuts deep:
We are fascinated by Ramses as Renaissance Christians were by the American Indians, those (human?) beings who had never known the word of Christ. Thus, at the beginning of colonization, there was a moment of stupor and bewilderment before the very possibility of escaping the universal law of the Gospel. There were two possible responses: either admit that this Law was not universal, or exterminate the Indians to efface the evidence. In general, one contented oneself with converting them, or even simply discovering them, which would suffice to slowly exterminate them.
Overall, my impression is that JB's simulacra applies aptly to Christianity (and all organized religion in general): the initial attempts to confer meaning and direction have been slowly replaced and corrupted into an unrecognizable performative Christianity (insert here your favorite religion flavor for personal taste). Even more generally, all current simulacra and simulation is a predictable corollary of the Law of Entropy and the game of Chinese Whispers played at a grand scale across many generations.
Late edit: By semi-random chance, I found an excellent summary dissection of American's unique chrapitalism (extracted from McCarraher's 2013 review of 2012 Critchley's Faith of the Faithless). In closing, I will add here one more quote from JB's book:
Disneyland is a perfect model of all the entangled orders of simulacra. It is first of all a play of illusions and phantasms: the Pirates, the Frontier, the Future World, etc. This imaginary world is supposed to ensure the success of the operation. But what attracts the crowds the most is without a doubt the social microcosm, the religious, miniaturized pleasure of real America, of its constraints and joys. One parks outside and stands in line inside, one is altogether abandoned at the exit. The only phantasmagoria in this imaginary world lies in the tenderness and warmth of the crowd, and in the sufficient and excessive number of gadgets necessary to create the multitudinous effect. The contrast with the absolute solitude of the parking lot - a veritable concentration camp - is total. Or, rather: inside, a whole panoply of gadgets magnetizes the crowd in directed flows - outside, solitude is directed at a single gadget: the automobile. By an extraordinary coincidence (but this derives without a doubt from the enchantment inherent to this universe), this frozen, childlike world is found to have been conceived and realized by a man who is himself now cryogenized: Walt Disney, who awaits his resurrection through an increase of 180 degrees centigrade.
