a spectacular critique of doolscroll economy
I'm currently re-reading this, I first read it a few years ago, and it has informed my understanding of the world ever since. Every social media trend, every propaganda cycle, every large scale shift in popular culture, I evaluate from the standpoint of this text. It is terrific and comprehensive.
Essentially it is an analysis of what Debord calls 'The Spectacle' , as this overarching phenomenon of mass media, political power and market economy. He claims that with the advent of capitalist economies, to sustain the logic of its neverending production cycles, "being" was replaced by "having", you were defined by what you had, property, wealth, status and what not. But even possession has physical dimensions, and concrete margins, which collide with the logic of capitalism, so "having" evolves to "appearing". It's no longer about what you have, but about the image you project of what you have. Now the world of images is an infinite world, it can contain all and multiply without margins. Ads, hoardings, posters, they edify the aspiration of appearances, of having this and that, of looking like this and that, and underlying everything is a commodity you can consume. Skincare, health supplements, outfits, and on and on. Dream upon dream upon dream on a large oblong screen. It can uphold the economy of endless growth, whose only purpose is itself.
This was written before social media became a thing, but I feel this text becomes even more pressing in the era of doomscroll. A never-ending sheet of images and gestures that go nowhere. Like in the recent trends, authenticity is a spectacle, its analysis is a spectacle, the analysis of analysis is also a spectacle. An endless vertigo of images, and short form videos, towards what? What human meaning is accomplished in all this? Debord argues none. It is futility, the only end it serves is itself. The spectacle is its own aspiration and its own destiny. We are left dazed and confused in the delirium of infinite scroll. He writes, "The Spectacle is a waking dream of the modern society in chains, and all it expresses is our desire for sleep". He makes analogies with the religions of the past, the world beyond was projected into heavens, now its projected in a screen. Every delusion is a click away, you just need enough money, just enough information. Eternity is now a headache of a social media algorithm, it knows all you want and all you aspire to be, it computes your desires and insecurities and projects them to you multiple times over. It wants you to substitute the world for its shadow as cast on the screen.
The spectacle is not democratic, it emerges as a convenience specifically because it can be controlled efficiently by those in power. Media organisations can be bought and taken over by corporate overlords, information can be seized and edited, satire can be censored through very efficient means. Spectacle forever rearranges itself for the convenience of those in power. Politicians no longer hold press conferences, they go to podcasts. He uses examples of the time this book was written, it includes a commentary on Kennedy, then some analysis of Hegel, Bakunin and Marx. It has a comprehensive critique of the Stalinist Totalitarian spectacle. I am not well read enough in these subjects to comment. But it is a dense book, the last section is very interesting in how it posits humanity as a function that brings time into consciousness, how religions evolve in a way that is an attempt to reconcile historical time with natural time. It's written in aphorisms, which I love in a book of philosophy, the language invokes a certain vividness that lingers in your mind long after. I think one of the main reasons why it has stayed with me for so long is the brilliance of its aphorisms on The Spectacle, it is truly a brilliant text that informs the confusion of a world forever bombarded with myriad images.