Guy Debord was a French revolutionary who spent his life trying to destroy the very concept of being a spectator. He failed, obviously. Look at your fucking phone right now *(you are reading this on your phone right now) But he left behind a book that explains exactly why you are looking at your phone and why you cannot stop.
Society of the Spectacle (1967) is a collection of 221 aphorisms. It reads like X if the (do you say x’s or tweet dude I’m confused) tweet was written by a chain-smoking philosopher who hated everything about modern life and was probably right about every bit of it.
The thesis: everything that was once directly lived has become a representation. You do not experience the world anymore. You watch it. News, social media, advertising, politics as entertainment. The spectacle is not a collection of images. It is a social relationship mediated by images (and it is eating your brain).
Debord was a Situationist International member. He spent his time trying to create situations where people could actually live instead of just watch. He also made a film adaptation of his own book that is just 90 minutes of black screens with text on them. Very French. Very on brand.
Starter book: Society of the Spectacle (1967)
