"We live by the mode of referendum precisely because there is no longer any referential. Every sign, every message (objects of "functional" use as well as any item of fashion or televised news, poll or electoral consultation) is presented to us as question/answer" (116).
We have a lot to unpack here. Baudrillard begins this section with this idea of "question/answer" and its implications in our complex structure of communication and simulation.
The example of the cameraman, who decides how to portray information to a potential crowd of onlookers, is used to say that the audience will never receive the full truth. This is true. The audience's understanding of the real is only what the cameraman reports to them. I do not agree with Baudrillard or Benjamin when they say that the cameraman's approach is that of "testing". How can this be a test? Viewers are given fragments of understanding, and are asked to analyze, but how can they be tested?
If we are to assume that everything is in a question/answer format, we erase the idea that content can be purely objective. This might actually be what Baudrillard is trying to say. I'm not sure if I believe that.
We have a lot to unpack here. Baudrillard begins this section with this idea of "question/answer" and its implications in our complex structure of communication and simulation.
https://jooinn.com/cameraman-5.html (photoshopped by me)
The example of the cameraman, who decides how to portray information to a potential crowd of onlookers, is used to say that the audience will never receive the full truth. This is true. The audience's understanding of the real is only what the cameraman reports to them. I do not agree with Baudrillard or Benjamin when they say that the cameraman's approach is that of "testing". How can this be a test? Viewers are given fragments of understanding, and are asked to analyze, but how can they be tested?
If we are to assume that everything is in a question/answer format, we erase the idea that content can be purely objective. This might actually be what Baudrillard is trying to say. I'm not sure if I believe that.
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