The Spectacle, the Social Web and You
“The only historically justified tactic is extremist innovation” – Debord & Wolman, A User’s Guide to Détournement (1956)
I’ve been thinking about the Situationists for about a decade now, after learning of Guy Debord’s Society of the Spectacle in some Propagandhi liner notes (I think) about a decade ago. Sadly, after all that time, I’ve developed no great insights as to what the hell they were talking about. I mean, I get the gist if that counts for anything, but I think to really grasp what they’re really getting at, one needs a graduate seminar and plenty of contextual knowledge. Nevertheless, the shit is damn brilliant and informs my worldview in many ways (most of which are surely based on misreading). Since presently, I do what one might call information work, and as a result have become heavily invested in the web and social networking, I’ll use this post to share some cool films by the Situationist International (SI), and briefly look at how the SI’s ideas of spectacle, détournement, and separation apply to the social web.
