The Society of The Spectacle outlines essentially the current state of affairs of our world. Basically, the idea espoused is saying that the state of “spectacle” is all that we do now. Spectacle is the state we are stuck in which envelops our everyday lives, sets social norms, and promotes wants, desires, and structure for those things in our society i.e. celebrities, movies, video games, styles, fashions, icons, and entertainment. This state of spectacle is maintained through media, which is controlled, by production, or our capitalistic/consumerist society. The spectacle, as I understand it, is a means to numb, hypnotize, and control the masses to keep those who control the means of production in control and at the top of the social/economic pecking order. I feel there is a large degree of truth to what this article is saying, however it is not as pervasive or urgent (at this point) as the essay claims. This is not to say that the current trend is moving in a positive direction, though. With the every increasing, exponential rate of technology and its influence on media, production, networking, and social structures, it is imperative that people pay as much attention to what is going on around them and the forces, which are being focused on us as well. In a more esoteric and relative sense, there have been, and for the foreseeable future, will be, an elite group of those who use some measure of control weather it be media, religion, law, etc. to control the majority of the masses. This is the way humans have got along from the beginning of recorded history, and I do not see prolific turning point in that system occurring anytime soon. The end.
-Robert Wilkins
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