"Representation and simulation have taken the place of what we used to call reality. We live instead with media-generated fictions. In 1991, in his essay, The Gulf War Did Not Take Place, he argued that in essence the war was a TV show and a symbolic gesture. The real conflict took place in the media of the West and didn't matter outside that electronic arena.
I would have to say, this is not an entirely unreasonable description of what does go on. But it is predicated on the notion that reality will not suddenly reappear, as it is apt to do.
"I would have to say, this is not an entirely unreasonable description of what does go on."
Except that the dead remain dead. Looking at one narrow sliver (the propaganda war) and declaring it "reality" is like looking through the wrong end of the telescope. In terms of an acedemic exercise, you may have a point, but just like a carpenter will always find solutions to problems that involve hitting things with a hammer, an acedemic will draw conclusions based on their narrow range of "expertise" despite the real experiences of the people that actually have to go do.