Separation Perfected?

                 The reading for today's class, Separation Perfected by Guy Debord makes numerous about “the spectacle”  being the philosophy or view of the world. While reading this, I was very confused as to what Debord was even discussing. The article was wordy and I found myself looking up words and trying to decipher what Debord’s thesis and point was to writing this. As I read further, towards the end of his text, I began to realize that the spectacle is the ultimate isolation of the self that is caused by the false unity of labor, relationships and media as a whole. Debord says “the spectacle epitomizes the prevailing model of social life (13).” I think this means that anything concerning the media has an alternate motive, to make people think that they need to live their lives in a specific way. “Celebration of a choice is already made in the sphere of production, and the consummate result of that choice (13).” An example that I thought of how commercials are shot. The commercial is designed to point us in all the right directions toward buying the product. Subconsciously we are taught to need and want the product without even realizing it. Much like trends, products that are advertised become a “must have” through out the world. We think we are supposed to have that iPhone or that Big Mac because commercials are designed to make us think everyone needs to have one in order to fit into society.

                  Debord ultimately finishes with saying all the innovative measures that are taken to make labor, government, and citizens all united is actually pulling us apart. Social media plays a large role in this separation. I thought about how people can have 1,000 facebook friends, twitter followers, likes, etc but not even know their next door neighbor’s first name. Therefore does the spectacle pull us farther away from reality and ultimately leave us more isolated than we have ever been before?