Alright folks, today’s notebook entry is me trying to actually make sense of this Baudrillard guy. Honestly, his name kept popping up everywhere – books, podcasts, smart people talking – and I was like, “Fine, universe, I get it! Time to figure out what he’s on about.” Especially with how weird the world feels now.
Getting Started: Pure Confusion Phase
So, step one was grabbing a book everyone said was “start here” friendly. Started reading. Pages flipped. Eyes glazed over. Felt like my brain was frying. Words were English, sentences made sense, but the meaning? Nope. “Simulation and Simulacra”? “Hyperreality”? Sounded like sci-fi jargon. Seriously frustrating. Felt dumb as bricks. Nearly gave up.
Tried watching some videos explaining him instead. Big mistake. First few were awful – some dude droning on about stuff even more complicated than the book. Switched videos quickly. Found a few okay ones finally, but still felt lost.
The Ah-Ha Moment? Kinda…
Kept pushing, skimming bits and pieces. Then, this whole “simulacra” thing started making a tiny bit of sense. Baudrillard talks about copies, right? But he’s saying we’ve made copies of reality so real, they’re not copies anymore. They become the real thing. We don’t even know the original reality exists or matters anymore. Mind slightly blown.
Thought about advertising. All those perfect lives shown online? Fake smiles, fake locations, fake happiness? According to him, that fake stuff becomes the thing we actually chase. The real life disappears. That clicked. Hard. Sat there staring at my Instagram feed completely differently.
Trying It Out On Real Stuff
Decided to test drive this idea this week. Went shopping for groceries. Simple task. Right?
- Saw fancy magazine pics of apples? Perfect, shiny, unreal. Then saw actual apples in the store. Less perfect, bruised maybe. Felt weirdly disappointed because the picture set the expectation.
- Checked news online. Saw the same story spun twenty ways by different sites. Each one felt true because it fit their world view. Which one was real? Or were they all just… representations that replaced the actual event? Felt dizzy.
- Scrolled TikTok. Saw perfectly choreographed lives, instant experts, simplified hot takes on everything. All screaming for attention. Realized I was swimming in hyperreality, exactly what he described. Wild.
Where It Left Me
So, do I understand every single word Jean Baudrillard ever wrote? Hell no. Not even close.
But this little deep dive? Actually helped. It gave me a lens. A weird, uncomfortable, but kinda sharp pair of glasses to look at the constant noise we live in now – the constant media, ads, social feeds, fake news, filtered lives.
Now I catch myself more. “Is this the real thing? Or a hyperreal copy? Why am I reacting to it?” It doesn’t magically solve everything, but it helps me step back a little. Makes the overwhelming fake shine of the modern world feel a bit less… real? Or too real? Still figuring that part out.
Main takeaway: Digging into confusing ideas sucks sometimes, but pushing through? Worth it. Feels like cleaning grime off a window. World looks clearer, even if what you see is kinda unsettling. Onwards!
