media often creates its own version of (hyper-)reality (33). From a Baudrillardian standpoint,
media simulations which now stand in for the real are pure works of fiction that bear only a
vague resemblance to actual reality.
Similar to Egan, Baudrillard hypothesizes that this calculated onslaught of
misinformation is like a spectacle or a film which the viewer experiences in real time. In The
Intelligence o f Evil, Baudrillard goes even further than Egan by theorizing that cinematic hyperreality has entirely “eclipsed” the real in the modern world where the subject is drowning in an
endless ocean of simulacra (Norris n.p.). As the philosopher affirms in the context of the Iraq
War, “What we ar e watching as we sit paralyzed in our fold-down seats isn’t ‘like a film * it is a
film. With a script, a screenplay, that has to be followed unswervingly [...] It's the same with the
cinema: the films produced today are merely the visible allegory of the cinematic form that has
taken over everything-social and political life, the landscape, war, etc.” (125). Baudrillard’s
concept of “cinematic" hyper-reality, developed in his later works such as The Intelligence o f
Evil and The Transparency o f Evil, explains why all of the major news networks spun the same
exact narrative ignoring decades of research conducted by scientists about the Ebola virus.
Due to the nefarious effects of media consolidation and corporate ownership, there is usually
one “official version of events” with minute, insignificant variations depending on the channel in
question that is prepackaged for our consumption (Hammond 306). It should be noted that the
popular comedian Jon Stewart often parodies this dearth of perspectives and lack of integrity
on his Comedy Central program The Daily Show. Demonstrating that news reports of major
events follow a rigid script that is never questioned by mainstream journalists, a frequent
segment of Stewart’s show makes fun of reporters that literally repeat the same lines on major
local and national stations. Like actors, most contemporary journalists do not engage in critical
thought when they read verbatim from the approved screenplay. Given the senseless
ostracism and violence that have resulted from the manufactured Ebola panic including angry
neighbors throwing rocks at Thomas Duncan’s apartment complex, this phenomenon is no
laughing matter (Kluger 32). Moreover, this irrational, misguided behavior confirms
Baudrillard’s assertion that many people have lost the ability to distinguish between reality and
its symbolic representation. Furthermore, the fact that traditional media outlets were
successful in their efforts to instill fear into the hearts of millions of Americans related to a
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