The Gulf War Did Not Take Place...

...or so Jean Baudrillard says. So if simulation has eradicated our reality because nobody knows the difference anymore, and the people in charge of the guns already know who is victorious before they even pull the trigger, or to be more precise, drop the bombs, then maybe the people who write these goddamn academic books should leave their cosy colleges once in a while.

Because last time I looked my daughter taking her first strokes in a swimming pool without armbands was NOT simulated. Talking through the pain of the most damaging love of my life with a new and wonderful man in a way that finally put it in perspective was NOT simulated. The heart stopping fear of seeing my little boy's body tumbling down a flight of stairs was NOT simulated. And for that matter neither was the feel of his head lolling on my shoulder as I sang him to sleep with the same words that my mother sang to us.

So, from where I'm standing this week the world seems pretty clear to me and most definitely real and I'm sure the families of those who died in operation Desert Storm are also pretty sure about where simulation ends and reality begins.