Governing today means giving acceptable signs of credibility. It is like advertising and it is the same effect that is achieved - commitment to a scenario.

Politics as theater, power as narrative

We live in an age where seeing is believing, and leaders know it. Whether it's a politician's carefully staged town hall, a CEO's perfectly lit video address, or a nonprofit's social media campaign showing exactly the right kind of diversity in exactly the right moments—modern authority hinges less on actual results than on the appearance of competence and trustworthiness. Baudrillard is saying something unsettling: governing has become a performance of legitimacy rather than its substance.

The tricky part is that this isn't cynicism so much as description. When millions of people need to feel confident in an institution, abstract assurance doesn't work. You need visible proof—the right words, the right setting, the right messenger. A company's diversity statement matters not (or not only) because it changes anything immediately, but because it signals which story the organization is committed to. Once people buy into that scenario, they're invested.

What makes this observation so relevant now is that we're all aware of the mechanics but still susceptible to them. We know spin when we see it, yet we still respond to a well-told story about who's in charge. The uncomfortable truth: maybe there's no alternative. Governance at scale might always require this theatrical element. The question becomes whether we can at least be honest about what we're watching.