莫比烏斯環上的媒介：後真相時代與矛盾雙重性

Abstract

從2016年的美國總統大選和英國「脫歐」公投開始，「假新聞」的氾濫就引發了人們的擔憂。2018年與「燕子」颱風有關的「假新聞」事件，因為關聯到一位台灣外交官的自殺，也讓台灣社會意識到「假新聞」的危害。美國哲學家Lee McIntyre使用「後真相」的概念描述如今真相所受到的威脅，擔憂人們的情感與個人信念已經比客觀現實更能影響輿論。相關的實證研究將「假新聞」的問題歸結為逃避現實的固有人性和社群媒介的推波助瀾。這些研究給出的解方自然也從兩方面著手。一方面提升個體辨別新聞真假的能力，另一方面干預社群媒介，重視優質內容的生產。但是，這些討論都只涉及「假新聞」的流通層面，而沒有觸及更為深層的問題，即現實是否還是現代人行為的參照，現實的價值是否發生了動搖。本研究依循法國學者Jean Baudrillard的基進理論，探究現實及其價值在現代社會的變遷，並希望提出因應「後真相時代」的解方。\n現實是現代人給自己的行為提供意義和價值的合理性原則。Baudrillard的擬仿（simulation）概念從廣義上來說是現代人用現實祛除幻象的過程。但是同樣的擬仿過程也導致了現實的消失。按照Baudrillard的擬象系譜學，擬仿不僅摧毀了傳統社會的象徵秩序，建立起以現實為參照物的現代符號體系，而且在現代的擬象秩序遞嬗中，不斷摧毀既有的現實，以便將實現比現實更加完滿的現實。我們則處在從狹義的擬仿階段向碎形階段過渡的時期。媒介發揮的作用不只是讓事件得到關注，而且是以符號模型（model）重新詮釋事件。即使原本強烈對立的真與假的區分也在傳播系統中被操作化為模型。任何一項事實都能夠用多種模型加以詮釋，每一種詮釋都是真的，模型與事實之間發生了短路。擬仿的結果不只是新聞真假難以判定，而且新聞的意義也不再能夠確定。\n「後真相」的問題不再能描述為「假新聞」的氾濫，而是資訊的過量所造成的不確定性。本研究引入Baudrillard的矛盾雙重性（ambivalence）概念以尋求應對的策略。矛盾雙重性既是Baudrillard提出擬仿假說的基礎，也是提供了回應「後真相」的可能。現代符號系統通過排斥與化約矛盾雙重性得以建立，但是矛盾雙重性又不可避免地以系統自身的死亡形式糾纏著現代符號。因此，行之有效的策略既是致命性的（fatal），也是宿命性的（fatal）。按照矛盾雙重性的相互性規則，我們可以用不確定性回應系統強加的資訊不確定性。這種宿命策略在大眾（mass）中體現為，對任何資訊都報之以假裝相信的態度，並讓他人以為他們相信，而在媒介中則體現為後果與原因不成比例的命定事件（fated event）。

The proliferation of "fake news" has been a cause for concern since the 2016 US presidential election and the Brexit vote. The "fake news" incident related to Super Typhoon Jebi in 2018, which was linked to the suicide of a Taiwanese diplomat, also made Taiwan society aware of the dangers of "fake news". Lee McIntyre, an American philosopher, uses the concept of "post-truth" to describe the threats to truth today, worrying that people`s emotions and personal beliefs have more influence on public opinion than objective reality. Related empirical studies attribute the problem of "fake news" to the inherent human nature of escaping from reality and the promotion of social media. The solutions given by these studies also work in two ways. On the one hand, to enhance the ability of individuals to distinguish between true and false news; on the other hand, to intervene in social media and emphasizes the production of high-quality content. But these discussions are only about the circulation level of "fake news", rather than the deeper question of whether reality is still a reference for modern people`s actions and whether its value has been shaken. This research follows the radical theory of Jean Baudrillard, a French scholar, explores the changes of reality and its value in modern society, and hopes to propose solutions to the "post-truth era".\nReality is the rationality principle that modern people provide meaning and value to their own actions. Baudrillard`s concept of simulation, in a broad sense, is the process by which modern people use reality to dispel illusions. But the same simulation process also leads to the disappearance of reality. According to Baudrillard`s genealogy of simulacra, simulation not only destroyed the symbolic order of the traditional society and established a modern sign system with reality as a reference, but also destroyed the existing reality continuously in the transformation of modern simulacra orders, so as to realize a reality that was more perfect than reality. We are in the transition period from the narrow sense of simulation stage to fractal stage. The role of media is not just to bring attention to events, but to reinterpret them in sign models. Even the originally strongly opposed distinction between true and false is manipulated as a model in the communication system. Any fact can be interpreted by multiple models, each of which is true, and there is a short circuit between models and facts. Not only is it hard to tell whether the news is true or false, but the meaning of news can no longer be determined.\nThe problem of "post-truth" can no longer be described as the proliferation of "fake news", but rather the uncertainty created by the excess of information. This study introduces Baudrillard`s concept of ambivalence to find a response strategy. Ambivalence is not only the basis of Baudrillard`s simulation hypothesis, but also provides the possibility of responding to the "post-truth". The modern sign system is established by excluding and reducing ambivalence, but ambivalence as a non-value principle inevitably haunts modern signs in the form of the system`s own death. Therefore, the strategy must be fatal in both two senses. According to the reciprocal rule of ambivalence we can respond to the uncertainty of information imposed by the system with uncertainty. This kind of fatal strategy manifests itself in masses as an attitude of pretending to believe in any information and making others believe that they believe it, and in media as fated events of maximum consequence.