STAGING AN EMERGENCY
I.
In a 2001 interview in New York City, Jacques Derrida was asked to reflect on the
status of 9/11 as a ‘major event’. In his response, Derrida spoke at length of the
non-representational quality of such an event. A major event, Derrida proposed, is
a disruptive force. Major events exceed, dislocate, and problematize the systems of
meaning through which we order everyday life. It defies understanding. It doesn’t
make sense. So it is only natural that, in the aftermath of such an event, we are
compelled to try and re-appropriate it back into these systems. The trauma induced by
the irruption of a ‘major event’ compels us to find a meaning. To make it make sense.
This demand has found new urgency in a media ecosystem comprised of 24-hour
news channels, live blogs and instant twitter updates. Recent events such as the
Boston Marathon bombing and the Woolwich stabbings amply demonstrate the
considerable influence of major media outlets in shaping these processes.
WOOLWICH EYEWITNESS
DESCRIBES ATTACK
BBC NEWS
“SUSPECT WANTED TO
GET CAUGHT”
BBC NEWS
1 Derrida, J. (2003). Autoimmunity: Real and Symbolic Suicides. In G. Borradori (Ed.), Philosophy in a
Time of Terror: Dialogues with Jürgen Habermas and Jacques Derrida (pp. 85–136).
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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