We find the same situation in the economy. On the one hand, the battered remnants of production and the real economy; on the other, the circulation of gigantic amounts of virtual capital. But the two are so disconnected that the misfortunes which beset that capital — stock market crashes and other financial debacles — do not bring about the collapse of real economies any more. It is the same in the political sphere: scandals, corruption and the general decline in standards have no decisive effects in a split society, where responsibility (the possibility that the two parties may respond to each other) is no longer part of the game. This paradoxical situation is in a sense beneficial: it protects civil society (what remains of it) from the vicissitudes of the political sphere, just as it protects the economy (what remains of it) from the random fluctuations of the Stock Exchange and international finance. The immunity of the one creates a reciprocal immunity in the other — a mirror indifference. Better: real society is losing interest in the political class, while nonetheless availing itself of the spectacle. At last, then, the media have some use, and the ‘society of the spectacle’ assumes its full meaning in this fierce irony: the masses availing themselves of the spectacle of the dysfunctionings of representation through the random twists in the story of the political class’s corruption. All that remains now to the politicians is the obligation to sacrifice themselves to provide the requisite spectacle for the entertainment of the people. Jean Baudrillard
About This Quote

The actual society of the spectacle, or the spectacle of the society. The people in this case are not watching TV but rather using it to watch themselves. It is a society where people watch themselves and their lives on the TV and in the news. We see this most in the news which we watch on TV and we see it in our social media such as Facebook and Twitter where we post pictures of us and share them with friends and family and it's also happening in politics and government where they post their press releases and tweets and they also use social media to help promote their agenda. Social media has become a huge part of everyone's life whether they realize it or not.

Source: Screened Out

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