[rumori] simulacra nation
rumoriatdetritus.net [rumori] simulacra nation
Thu, 8 Oct 1998 10:31:44 -0400 (00907857104, 85256697.004D3CFF.00atnatsmtp.nish.org)
Please respond to rumoriatdetritus.net
To: rumoriatdetritus.net
cc: (bcc: Dan Serkland/National/NISH)
Subject: [rumori] simulacra nation
>breakfast cereal that appropriates a real breakfast food. The cereal
>itself is tiny reproductions of French Toast. The expose on Breakfast
>Cereal is pretty funny. Cookies for breakfast, who'd a thunk! media >and
>food.. WOW! sign me up. Why have the real thing when you can have an
>amazing likeness?
>food as media. I've been on a food kick lately and starting to explore
This is like a Magritte painting. "This is not a pipe." No, its a picture
of a pipe. Or Jasper Johns "American Flag" in encaustic. Is it a
flag or a painting of one? Magritte believed in a surrealist
process. Do you think cereal manufacturers really are aware of
exactly what they are doing? Use of symbols is pretty basic. Yes,
most children's institutions are simulation, but what is the function
of this? Why not reality instead of simulation? Does this prepare
the 21st century children for an increasingly digital/VIRTUAL world?
People are discussing now that children cannot seperate reality from
fiction. That is why we have the V chip right? And a TV ratings
system.
All over the press in the Washington DC area are stories about a 4th grader
who is facing expulsion for bringing a toy gun to school. They ARE
trying to teach that there is no difference between fake/symbolic and
REAL. We haven't progressed any further really beyond the Ancient
Egyptian scribes who would place arrow over certain characters (the
snake, for example) to pin them down and keep them from leaving the
carved stone wall. Does anyone believe in magic?
-dan
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