Simulation and Dissimulation

This article proposes that the concept of simulation can provide an alternative framework for understanding contemporary trends in the media representation of war, and that the concept can usefully be extended to encompass the rationale for and conduct of war itself in the post-Cold War era. Rather than war being the pursuit of politics by other means, it now seems that western elites use war and intervention as a way to simulate a sense of political purpose and mission. Equally, the media presentation of war is less concerned with the dissimulation of hidden interests than with display and spectacle, although the very absence of clearly defined interests and values also means that this presentation is often incoherent and self-conscious. Examples discussed include both the conventional wars launched since 9/11 and the operations other than war undertaken in the name of humanitarianism or human rights in the 1990s.