Greg Clayton

Convergence Blog #1

9/23/15

            The society of the spectacle is Debord’s rhetoric of calling an open and free market exchange of goods and services detrimental to the overall good of society because we will all become slaves to our possessions and greed.  That society as a whole will cease to function, and people will be so caught up in their own vanity of wealth, that basic human necessities and the need to coexist will be swallowed up by the spectacle of commodity.  How’s his prediction so far?  Yes, some people can get caught up in the spectacle, if you let it.  But what Debord fails to recognize is that not all people who seek success or certain material possessions are inherently bad or corrupt.  Some people work hard for what they have, and do not necessarily partake in the spectacle, but rather carve out a nice life for themselves and stand in the shadows of the spectacle, but are included in Debord’s generalizations.  Why does society need to answer to Debord because they buy unnecessary material items? If he does not like the “spectacle” than why is he throwing his hat into the ring and being part of it?  He publishes books, he makes films.  To me, someone who is fed up with a society that makes a “spectacle” of itself and then gains from that opinion is a hypocrite. In quote 35 Debord says “…we recognize our old enemy the commodity, which at first glance so trivial and obvious, yet which is actually so complex and full of metaphysical subtleties.” (Debord Chapter 2, 35).  It’s almost comical to call commodity “our old enemy” because it is as natural as nature itself.  Debord’s world is delusional at best, sorry metaphysical. 

            Commodity isn’t the spectacle, it is the absence of basic human decency and the ability to better the world around people who have been given or earned said commodity.  The spectacle is the Paris Hilton’s of the world, not the Warren Buffet’s or Bill Gates’.  In an article by Anselm Jappe posted by Alias Recluse on libcom.org, Mr. Jappe contends, “The commodity and its general form, money, might have served a positive function at first, facilitating the expansion of needs. But its structure is like a time bomb, a virus inscribed in the genetic code of modern society. The more the commodity seizes control of society, the more it undermines the foundations of society itself, rendering it entirely uncontrollable and transforming it into a self-operating machine. It is thus not a question of praising or condemning the commodity; it is the commodity itself which will get rid of itself over the long term, and maybe not just itself. The commodity inexorably destroys the society of the commodity. As a form of indirect and unconscious socialization, it cannot but produce disasters” (Jappe 1993).  That was in1993. Debord’s realizations and predictions were in the 60’s.  When are these going to come to fruition? When will success be welcomed and not seen as a curse or a downfall of a society but a means to an end?

Bibliography

           

Debord, Guy. The Society of the Spectacle. New York: Zone, 1994. Print.

"Debord, Guy - Anselm Jappe." Debord, Guy - Anselm Jappe. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.