Debord rejected all official culture—the “spectacle”—which reduced modern people to imbeciles. He had a legendary status that seemed to endure even now. I could see why. Who wants to argue that consumer culture, whether it’s fast food or franchised movies or duty-free cosmetics, is wholesome and beneficial? If people do not start out as imbeciles, they are made imbecilic by the corporate contours of their daily life, lulled into a sleep, a sleep which, according to Debord, prevents them from wanting a more authentic life. True enough. Which isn’t to say I agree with Debord’s insistence we
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