Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The Society of the Spectacle and El Gripe Porcina

Captors of our creative minds live in the waves of boredom that wash upon us when monotony reigns. Boredom can capture a soul and send it to places worse than hell. Recently, I have been sent to tedious mind-numbing habit hell. I needed something to wake my brain from its caustic slumber. I was suggested to read Guy Debord’s SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE . We are not unknown to the fact that media bombardment overrides any sense of real individuality that is left on this planet. We have not only been subjugated to the economy, but we have in essence grasped the spectacle and made it our “unreality” which is very real. As Guy Debord puts it so eloquently, “In a world that is really upside down, the true is a moment of the false”. Immunity from the spectacle is impossible.

As I read this book that has indeed furthered my introspectivivity (if that is even a word), I realize that this subjugation is reinforced by the fact that people’s activity becomes less and less active and more and more contemplative.”

Ding Ding Ding, the light bulb goes on. I will bravely admit that although my job is easy for 32 of 40 hours a week where I act as a place holder made of flesh and blood and bone that hopefully has a relatively conscious state of being, most of the time, it is blood curdling boring. It is boredom because everything is so convenient in this western life we live. My brain has now sunk into the depths of contemplation and deliberation, reflection and inspection as my body sinks into this office chair.

This brings me to how the media – being the most obvious “spectacle” - is a colossal component of our conscious mental states. It has become what is happening to us and others in our immediate environments – our society. Now that our dear old friends at the local and international newspapers continue to be contented to share things that shock us into oblivion of worry. Swine Flu; originally bought upon us as “El Gripe Porcina.” As the pandemic’s popularity stabilizes, other worlds of top breaking stories rise to the forefront and poor piggy is left in the trenches. Autumn is in its difficult transition towards the bitter winter and in South Korea the little kiddies are playing on the worries of their spectacle-enchanted parents. Where face masks are the new fashion, students are dropping out of the classroom like flies in the freezer. They’ll be fine once they thaw out – once the excitement passes. Precaution is of utmost importance to the point of warranting a temporary closing of the country high school. Although no virus virulent enough to seize me has entered into the hollows of my immune system, I am told to wear a mask. Of course in the name of precaution.

If you are interested in furthering your conscious self towards the spectacle, read Ken Knabb’s translation of Guy Debord’s SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE online at http://www.bopsecrets.org/SI/debord/index.htm