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(2014) The singular politics of Derrida and Baudrillard, Dordrecht, Springer.
The question of the media is one which Derrida has described as the main political problem facing the world today. Baudrillard's assertion that in the reporting of the Gulf War information obscured the event is examined and Derrida's concurrence is noted. Yet the problematic way in which Baudrillard finds himself apparently unable to positively remark singularity is highlighted. I follow how Derrida's quasi-phenomenological analyses lead him to argue that the media at once opens the possibility of an engagement of alterity while also potentially closing it off. The media are said to be the medium of the spectral: the media can be both our access to singularity and its occlusion. Derrida's critical account of the media is briefly outlined and the possibility that Baudrillard at times engages in a practice of rereading that is not dissimilar is opened. In conclusion, their thinking of the media is linked to the way both are partisans of the event.
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Full citation:
Evans, M. (2014). The media of the event, in The singular politics of Derrida and Baudrillard, Dordrecht, Springer, pp. 54-72.
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