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Guy Debord Biography

Guy Louis Debord (French: [gi dəbɔʁ]; 28 December 1931 – 30 November 1994) was a French Marxist theorist, philosopher, filmmaker, member of the Letterist International, founder of a Letterist faction, and founding member of the Situationist International (SI). He was also briefly a member of Socialisme ou Barbarie.

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Guy Debord Quotes

The loss of quality that is so evident at every level of spectacular language, from the objects it glorifies to the behavior it regulates, stems from the basic nature of a production system that shuns reality. The commodity form reduces everything to quantitative equivalence. The quantitative is what it develops, and it can develop only within the quantitative.

Basic, Everything, Evident, Loss, Quality, Reality

In societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation.

Accumulation, Lived, Modern, Prevail, Representation

In a world that has REALLY been turned on its head, truth is a moment of falsehood.

Moment, Moments, Truth, Truth Is, World

. . . just as early industrial capitalism moved the focus of existence from being to having, post-industrial culture has moved that focus from having to appearing.

Capitalism, Culture, Early, Existence, Focus

The advertisements during intermissions are the truest reflection of an intermission from life.

Advertisements, Intermission, Reflection, Truest

In societies where modern conditions of productions prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into representation. The images detached from every aspect of life fuse in a common stream in which the unity of this life can no longer be re-established. Reality considered partially unfolds, in its own general unity as a pseudo-world apart, an object of mere contemplation. . . The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.

Everything, People, Presents, Reality, Unity

None of the activity stolen by work can be regained by submitting to what work has produced. - The Society of The Spectacle

Activity, Produced, Regained, Spectacle, Stolen

The more powerful the class, the more it claims not to exist, and its power is employed above all to enforce this claim. It is modest only on this one point, however, because this officially nonexistent bureaucracy simultaneously attributes the crowning achievements of history to its own infallible leadership. Though its existence is everywhere in evidence, the bureaucracy must be invisible as a class. As a result, all social life becomes insane.

Achievement, Class, Existence, Officially, Powerful

Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always.

Boredom, Revolutionary

In our society now, we prefer to see ourselves living than living.

Living, Our Society, Prefer, See, Society

The spectacle is the bad dream of a modern society in chains and ultimately expresses nothing more than its wish for sleep. The spectacle is the guardian of that sleep.

Chains, Dream, Nothing, Sleep, Ultimately, Wish

No longer is science asked to understand the world, or to improve any part of it. It is asked instead to immediately justify everything that happens. . . . spectacular domination has cut down the vast tree of scientific knowledge in order to make itself a truncheon.

Cutting, Domination, Make, Order, Tree, World

It is hardly surprising that children should enthusiastically start their education at an early age with the Absolute Knowledge of computer science; while they are unable to read, for reading demands making judgments at every line. Conversation is almost dead, and soon so too will be those who knew how to speak.

Age, Children, Early, Reading, Speak, Surprising

The spectacle is capital accumulated to the point where it becomes image.

Accumulated, Becomes, Capital, Image, Point, Spectacle

Like lost children we live our unfinished adventures.

Adventure, Children, Like, Live, Lost

He will essentially follow the language of the spectacle, for it is the only one he is familiar with.

Essentially, Familiar, Follow, Language

Revolution is not 'showing' life to people, but making them live. A revolutionary organization must always remember that its objective is not getting its adherents to listen to convincing talks by expert leaders, but getting them to speak for themselves, in order to achieve, or at least strive toward, an equal degree of participation.

Degree, Order, Organization, People, Revolution, Showing

Behind the masks of total choice, different forms of the same alienation confront each other.

Choices, Different, Mask, Same, Total

Work is only justified by leisure time. To admit the emptiness of leisure time is to admit the impossibility of life.

Emptiness, Justified, Leisure, Life

people who personify the system are indeed well known for not being what they seem to be; they have achieved greatness by embracing a level of reality lower than that of the most insignificant individual life- and everyone knows it.

Greatness, Insignificant, Known, Life, Reality

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