I am not quite sure how to understand Baudrillard's interpretations on the failed assassination attempts on President Nixon, Ford, etc. He says, "The Kennedys were murdered because they still had a political dimension. The others, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, only had the right to phantom attempts, to simulated murders. But this aura of an artificial menace was still necessary" (19). I assume that B does not mean to imply that these assassinations were orchestrated events. B seems to treat these events as isolated from their true objective historical context.

Has anyone seen the movie Awakenings? It is "based on a true story" about a doctor trying to cure catatonic patients. In one scene, Dr. Oliver Sachs proposes that the characteristic tremors of Parkinson's disease accelerated enough could freeze a patient's muscles causing a catatonic state. This notion came to mind when Anderson addresses the periodization of postmodernism.

(Note: this is much longer than I expected. I recommend reading the last two paragraphs and returning to the beginning if you're still interested)