Simulacral war causes identical suffering while losing ideological stakes

Evidence

The moralists of war, the holders of high wartime values should not be too discouraged: the war is no less atrocious for being only a simulacrum - the flesh suffers just the same, and the dead and former combatants are worth the same as in other wars. This objective is always fulfilled, just like that of the charting of territories and of disciplinary sociality. What no longer exists is the adversity of the adversaries, the reality of antagonistic causes, the ideological seriousness of war. And also the reality of victory or defeat, war being a process that triumphs well beyond these appearances. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 138

Categorization

• CANDY: The deflating reassurance ‘moralists of war should not be too discouraged’ is a memorably dry line worth quoting.
• XREF: connects to: Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421; Opposed imperialist temperaments produced identical toxic political effects — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 546; Apocalyptic battle narratives are shared by zealots on opposing sides of the same war (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• Opposed imperialist temperaments produced identical toxic political effects #exemplifies (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 546
• Apocalyptic battle narratives are shared by zealots on opposing sides of the same war #complicates (0.75)
• Clash-of-civilizations rhetoric ideologically legitimized both foreign wars and domestic attacks #complicates (0.72) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 421