There’s a case to be made that Guy Debord was the most interesting figure thrown up by the Paris events of 1968. Debord died in 1994, in his early 60s, and his later years were spent in obscurity. In  his brief period as a leader (except there were no leaders) of Situationist International, he inserted a phrase into intellectual life, which has stayed there, and been tortured there, ever since.

The “society of the spectacle” was, in his mind, a way of capturing the central importance of the image in contemporary society. Images, he thought, had replaced human interaction.

It was a brilliant early encapsulation of what is increasingly the state of our politics. Politics more and more merge with the media on which they depend: and spectacle becomes all. Two countries lead this trend: the US and Italy. For Italy, see the posts of Ferdinando Giugliano. For the US, see below:

The US right now works almost wholly through spectacle. The rise of Sarah Palin, through being vice presidential candidate to John McCain to her present role as aspirant presidential candidate of the right, is spectacle driven. So is another rise: that of Elizabeth Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, who may yet displace Palin.

The spectacle she constructed to bolster her image was a political ad, which branded the lawyers who defended Guantanamo detainees as “the Al Qaeda Seven”, asking, “Whose values do they share?" The ad shocked many on the right – but was greeted – according to a Newsweek report – with joy by her circle, and by the conservative talk-show hosts who now seem to b e in charge of the Republican agenda. From Newsweek –

“Cheney’s aides could barely contain their glee last week at the ruckus they had stirred up. 'For $1000 (the cost of the ad) we’ve driven the debate for a week,' said one political adviser who asked not to be identified because (Cheney’s) group (Keep America Safe), co-led by Conservative commentator Bill Kristol, wanted to speak only through official statements. Or, as one of Liz Cheney’s biggest fans, Rush Limbaugh, put it on his radio show, 'It sure as hell got everyone’s attention, didn’t it?'"

When attention becomes the criterion, we have entered not just the society of the spectacle, but the society of the asylum. Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States and co-author of the Declaration of Independence, said he would prefer the government of newspapers to that of politicians: in the form of talk TV and radio rather than newspapers, his wish is coming true. He should have been careful for what he wished.