ABSTRACT
The multiplication of risks which oscillates from terrorism to virus outbreaks or natural disasters defies today the conceptual framework of the welfare state. Whether our grandparents endowed politicians with their trust, to be protectors of community, these days they are portrayed as liars, professional swindlers or inefficient autocratic staff who are insensible to what people feel (Sunstein, 2002a; Biocca, 2005). Although disasters were inherited to social imaginaries and cultural consumptions, for example, expressed in movies as Volcano, Deep Impact or The Perfect Storm among others, in this new century fiction becomes in part of reality (Quarantelli, 1960; 2006; Brunsma & Picou, 2008). The shocking attack to WTC in New York known as the financial centre of the World inaugurated a new age of fear and uncertainness where West understood that nobody was safer anymore and in any place. It is tempting to say that risk studies and texts on risk perception flourished in almost all disciplines from engineering to social sciences (Skoll, 2010; Korstanje, 2015); in this vein, many philosophers focused on the problem of risk as an ethical quandary resulted from the decline of trust accelerated by late-capitalism (Beck, 2002; Sennett, 2011). From Baudrillard to Bauman or Soyinka, these writers devoted considerable attention to analyzing the effects of fear in daily life. In terms of Baudrillard, a new spectacle of disaster, which is forecasted and disseminated by the media for entertainment, enlarges a much deeper dissociation between reality and fiction (Kellner, 2005). At some extent, albeit these studies shed light on a new time which was next to come, less attention was paid to some aspects that explain further on why this happens. This conceptual discussion not only continues with earlier efforts in risk studies, but also coins the term “thana-capitalism” to refer this uncanny fascination for
disaster-related landscapes. What the doctrine of risk-zero was unable to explain was the reasons why technological advance did not suffice to make a safer world. Following the rational paradigm, external or internal threats can be found by the net of experts who work for state. Whenever these risks are located, experts should intervene according to protocols of surveillance. In this process science would play a crucial role expanding the produced knowledge in order for society to be protected (Beck, 1992). If Harvey (1989) indicated that oil embargo was the epicenter that started postmodernism, and Paul Virilio (2010) evinced the rise of uncertainness that subordinated the security of the workforce to profits and businesses, the evolution and consolidation of a “culture of fear” remained unchecked. In this chapter we hold the thesis that disasters do not affect cultures; rather, cultures are predetermined by earlier disasters or traumatic events. Interesting evidence can be found in founding myths such as that of Noah, where God dispenses an apocalyptic natural disaster for the reconstruction of a new exemplary culture. At a first look, Noah is the first survivor and the only chosen by God to continue with humankind on the earth. Doubtless, the force and influence of this myth in a capitalist system is stronger than in other cultures, simply because it paves the ways for the configuration of a sentiment of exemption, in which the destruction of all is based in the salvation of a few. Ideologically speaking, Noah’s story leads to a process of social Darwinism, in which case capitalism was successfully reproduced worldwide. This reflects an asymmetrical system where a privileged group amasses almost 80% of produced wealth while the rest are pressed to live with limited resources. As the backdrop, the culture of disaster within modern capitalism aims at disorganizing social ties. In so doing, the derived narcissism is adopted as the main cultural value of society. The question whether capitalism expanded faster than analysts precluded correspond with two key factors: the need to be different and the need for protection. The society of risk sets the pace to a new capitalism (thana-capitalism), where the presence of death allows changes that otherwise would not be feasible. In these days of thana-capitalism, life is seen as a long race where only one will be the winner. The death of Others which is present in newspapers, television and the Internet not only makes us feel special because we are in a race after all, but also reminds us of how special we are. This is the reason why disasters captivate today’s global audience. At the time, they exhibit the disgrace in Others news reinforce the supremacy of West over other cultures. Secondly, leisure practices such as classic “Sun and Sea” tourism are changed to new forms where mass disaster or mourning spaces are the main attraction. This new segment, known by some specialists as thana-tourism or dark tourism, recycles spaces of disasters or mass death to be visually commoditized to international consumers who need to be close to an Other’s death. If older leisure practices embraced an apollonian view of beautiness that invited workers to spend time and money in paradise-alike destinations, now we are witness of the rise of a new class, death-seekers. What would be more than interesting to discuss is the intersection of death and consumption. It signals to radical shifts that certainly denote the beginning of a new capitalism, thana-capitalism.
