Would be curious to hear what Baudrillard-enjoyers think but it strikes me that we have hit Stage 4 of the simulacrum where no true reality exists behind the spectacle of performative leftism. The hyper reality is detached from any real intent to change political economy much less critique it and we’re on an endless self-referential loop of these sorts of performances.

@feelsdesperate You didn’t read the book

@EmptyMaterial I did - it’s short and easy to read

@feelsdesperate Then you’d know the Hasan pic is not the 4th stage because it is an image that pretends to reference a coherent ideology (we don’t need to debate wether or not he is sincere, the point is he still pretends to be sincere). The Clay Travis image is indeed the 4th stage…

@EmptyMaterial Disagree. It is a totally self referential loop. It refers back to ideologically untethered performance art. It’s not that he’s trying and gets it wrong. The ‘getting it wrong’ is part of the performance.

@feelsdesperate That’s still 2nd or 3rd, because there is something to “get wrong.” Communism and socialism existed, even if he’s faking a reference to it. The hot girl drinking a miller lite was always an advertisement, therefore the AI image can get nothing wrong bc it references a fantasy

@EmptyMaterial No it’s just a pastiche of hyper reality. He’s not even ‘trying.’

@feelsdesperate Doesn’t matter if he’s trying he’s fake referencing something real. He’s not fake referencing something that’s also fake like the Clay Travis example. Agree to disagree cheers.

@EmptyMaterial He’s referencing this - a meme complex, not communism

@feelsdesperate Yah a guy reading a book is a meme. You’re stretching bro.

@feelsdesperate Like I said, whether or not Hasan is sincere is not important at least to Baudrillard. He spends hours on end talking about and promoting basic democratic socialism on his stream. LeBron has never spoken about the book he’s reading. Even the LeBron image is 3rd stage.

@feelsdesperate LeBron’s comments on Malcolm X: “I like him, he’s powerful” K