The Thousands

Could the definition of our times be "too much of everything"? This phrase is not meant in the narrowest hippie sense i.e. over consumption = environmental degradation but in the broadest sense possible i.e. an overload of images, press, television, asexuality, monogamy, polygamy, a vast financial system you cannot see or hear, fitness obsession, those that are too rich, those that are too poor, mass elimination of disease, the rise of cancer and so on and so forth.

The long gone Baudrillard catches these social issues much like an insect trap and dissects them into essays on self perpetuating systems of ‘evil’. Topics such as financial systems are likened to an astral satellite orbiting a distant sun. Post-Hiroshima bodies are irradiated and penetrated by signs, media, programs (i.e. the computer) and networks. AIDS is as transmutable and immune-degrading as a computer virus.

While The Transparency of Evil is indicative of a world on a hyper-grey decline it is by no means a negative reading experience. In fact, it’s the opposite. It is exciting. What Baudrillard offers is a glimpse into an undercurrent of meaning that sits below the facade of life as it is now. His insights are an effervescent antidote to global ridiculousness.