The social can be dissolved by inertia as much as by panic

Evidence

The opposite panic: one knows that the social can be dissolved in a panic reaction, an uncontrollable chain reaction. But it can also be dissolved in the opposite reaction, a chain reaction of inertia, each microuniverse saturated, autoregulated, computerized, isolated in automatic pilot. Advertising is the prefiguration of this: the first manifestation of an uninterrupted thread of signs, like ticker tape - each isolated in its inertia. Disaffected, but saturated. Desensitized, but ready to crack. — Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation, 306

Categorization

• XREF: Chimes with Virilio’s ‘aesthetic of disappearance’ which Baudrillard explicitly invokes here. — connects to: Atomized societies become dangerously volatile during crises. — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization…, 240; Passive drift toward disaster can feel seductive rather than frightening — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 293

Broader Connections

• Passive drift toward disaster can feel seductive rather than frightening #expands (0.85) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 293
• Atomized societies become dangerously volatile during crises. #expands (0.80) — Anton Jäger, Hyperpolitics, 240