Bumble: Jean Baudrillard

Do we let the terrorists actually win?


This text talks about our bizarre pleasure and fascination we get from the disturbing images and idea of Terrorism or catastrophic events. Baudrillard writes, “The terrorist exploited the ‘real time’ of images… at the same time as they exalt the event, they also take it hostage. They serve to multiply it to infinity and, at the same time; they are a diversion and a neutralization” (Baudrillard 228). While this quote very accurately reflects reality, and our obsession and constant fear being injected into our systems on a daily basis, is it really the terrorists who are responsible, or our very own media? Have we turned against ourselves? By replaying a horrifying image of 911, we instill fear into the people and make sure that there is no chance of forgetting it. Every time it is re-enacted on the news with the horrifying images, it re-triggers the fear response. This in turn, leads to a snowball effect where everything appears to relate back to these horrifying events. We are all guilty of thinking back to these images because they have been so infused into our minds. While working in NYC the summer after 911, when there was the national black out, the only thing that raced through people’s minds was WE ARE UNDER ATTACK!! Also, this past summer in NYC when the steam pipe exploded because it was old and rusted, again the initial response was we are under terrorist attack again. It is the adrenaline rush that people actually enjoy, and so I think we stay in our virtual reality to make sure that we stay fearful and exhilarated! Of course by our media instigating this, we are actually the ones who help the terrorists WIN… because as Baudrillard claims, “the terrorists’ victory is that all other forms of violence and the destabilization of order work in its favour. Internet terrorism, biological terrorism, the terrorism of anthrax and rumour—all are ascribed to Bin Laden” (Baudrillard 230). We are the ones who let the terrorists win, we let them get to us. Maybe we actually want them to win, so we have a story to tell… could this be a possibility?

Our media empires, replay these images with a new sense of built up fear and, “fiction” added on top of them to make them even more dramatic and effective. By making them in real time it is as though it is happening right now, even though it was an event with a definitive ending point, the media does not let us believe so. Only when it is redone it is so much more elaborate, because already our imaginations and fiction has grabbed hold. Reality is just not as fascinating as fiction!

An example of the re-enacting of horrifying events is that of Columbine. The website; which is constantly up is continual, implying that it is happening in real time. Not only can someone re-enter this website over and over and over again, you can do walk through tours in an interactive process as though you were there when the shootings happened.


By showing images in the present from events from the past, it blurs the usual concept we have of linear time, that things happened in the past and now we are in the present. There is a new concept of time and space.

All of what Baudrillard talks about leads to his words, “terrorism would be nothing without the media…” (Baudrillard 229). This concept could not be more true. The media harnesses the terrorist attack and exploits the people’s emotions and fear by reliving the experience in an overly dramatic and symbolic sense. It creates a feeling of fear and terror in the world, similar to the concept of the mean world syndrome. The world is constantly out to get us, and for some bizarre reason, as Bhartes says, we gain pleasure from this text. We are fascinated by it and marvel at it, which is why we are constantly glued to our television sets!