Syringes, Metonymy, Global Fear and News

Abstract

The previous chapter examined the pleasure associated with the syringe in popular culture. In this chapter the focus shifts to a deeper, darker rendering of the power of the syringe image. By connecting the syringe sign to Jacques Derrida’s construct of the pharmakon, I show how the syringe sources its profundity by connecting to the deepest and most secret place, the human soul. With selfhood founded on a hidden soul and a visible body, the pharmakon is forever in contact with the most hidden aspects of selfhood. The magic of the syringe is that it can connect to both the hidden soul and the visible body. In a way this brings us back to explore an idea noted in the previous chapter, proffer..