Today I would like to introduce some very thought provoking and interesting ideas to you, although they are not written by me, they still have some educational merit. ;) Most of these articles concentrate mostly on the thinkings of Jean Baudrillard, a social theorist and generally cool guy. Enjoy:

Cultural Warfare

Basic Baudrillard

"Baudrillard describes the history of disappearance from Plato onward in _Simulacra and Simulation_. First the image reflects reality. Then it masks it. Then it hides the absence of it. Finally, it has no relation to any reality at all, which has disappeared. Relating this to the panopticon, there is the observer-observed, the reversal, and the disappearance of the distinction. In both cases, we end up in a world of the third order." - Joan Richmond

"Baudrillard starts defining "precession of simulacra" with a contrast drawn from a Borges fable. In the fable, cartographers draw a map in such detail that it ends up exactly covering the real territory of the empire. The map frays as the empire declines. The reality and the abstraction (map) decline together. By contrast, today that pairing has disappeared. Abstractions are no longer "the map, the double, the mirror, or the concept." [1] No longer is there simulation of a "territory, a referential being, or a substance." [1] Instead, B. sees a "real without origin or reality" being generated "by models." [1] This is the hyperreal. In the hyperreal, (referring again to the Borges fable), the map "precedes the territory." [1] And this precessive map, or simulacrum, then "engenders the territory," such as it is."

More Baudrillard

Simulacra and Simulation

And finally, some clear thinking and/or interesting musings on our situation and our culture:

http://www.transparencynow.com

http://www.digressmagazine.com

And finally, as kind of a tangent, who do we have to thank for this deception? Well, in part it's our friends in the media.
Is the media evil? Why yes, of course, my dear. What a silly question. Is the sky blue?

The Media and Truth


"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our minds." - Bob Marley
"Free your mind." - Morpheus