“unreal” nature of the 9/11 attacks

The “unreal” nature of the attacks or rather the blurred line between reality and fantasy
piqued the interest of Slavoj Zizek and Jean Baudrillard. For Zizek, on September 11, 2001,
the Real (the pre-symbolic, chaotic thing that resists symbolization) burst into the Symbolic
network of the U.S. society which was, understandably, met with shock but interestingly gave
the U.S. what it secretly desired for: the fantasies of death and destruction. Baudrillard makes
a similar observation that the collapse of the towers was tied to the already existing desire, on
the part of the U.S. citizens, to see them vanish from sight for the towers represented the
oppressive arms of an ever-increasing power. Surely, Zizek’s and Baudrillard’s claims point to
different directions, however, it is possible to identify certain overlapping interpretations.
Please write a comparative essay on Zizek’s and Baudrillard’s articles that expound their
viewpoints and you are expected to give your critical opinions on the feasibility and/or
pertinence of their somewhat radical claims.

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