La Societe du Spectacle, Guy Debord Mary Jeys

Hello January Blog Readers, here's my book report:

I read this book in the French, so pardon me if this becomes a little oblique. My French to English translation is perhaps, eh how we say? ne pas bien. No really, I read the translation by Donald Nicholson-Smith. It is Guy Debord approved. I have to say, this is some good theory- makin' me think. Brain hurt. There were some tough times during the chapters Time and History and Negation and Consumption in the Cultural Sphere. Mostly though, this stuff is hot property. Hot chapters included Separation Perfected, Unity and Division Within Appearances, and Ideology in Material Form.

It's surprisingly, about the spectacle. Of our society. There is so much in here, it's hard for me to recap. But, let's give it a try anyway:
- The Spectacle makes human beings defined by having not being. So, we are Human Havings.
- The Spectacle alienates us from everything and everyone. Spectacle is lonely.
- "The Spectacle is capital accumulated to the point where it becomes image" Think Paris Hilton.

The book goes on and on like this some better some worse. There's a handy chapter in there about the proletariat. The Proletariat as Subject and Representation goes into all the different incarnations of communism and socialism that all eventually fell to their knees in front of the Super-Strong Capitalist Market system. I like the Communist stuff. Back when I read Orwell's 1984, I remember thinking that it would be really cool if we all had to wear gray overalls.

A friend recently said to me that he didn't think this book applied to him. My response is "Bull Honkery", if you live right now, in our ever expanding society, it applies to you. Read it to find out how much. But you don't have to take MY word for it.