Kristen Reagan: Spectacle

In the book, McKee sites Guy Debord about the three ways to describe "specticle." First, he says, specticle suggests that consumers are being given "flshy, showy forms of communication." Meaning that we get visual forms of communication, rather than written forms. The second way says that spectacles are for entertainment and that they distract people from "real" politics. Finaly, Debord believed that spectacles encourage passivity in spectators. Due to all this, some believe that people are just "passively observing the spectacles of life."

McKee points out that the issue of specticle is not something new in the public sphere. For hundreds of years, people have been interested in more visual things like music halls, circuses, etc. Even politics use specticle to get to the working class. Like McKee points out, it is interesting that for something that is considered a downside of the public sphere by some, it is also something that is being used by many educated groups.

Like we have discussed before in class, I do not believe that everything has to be written purely for the educated. Most of our population is not educated and by only having a public shpere that reaches out to the people who are educated, we are leaving out many people who might be interested in what is going on. I do not believe that specticle is a bad thing and by having it, we are involving more people, especially the young, in political and other important debates. By having political intent in rap songs, the people who listens to those songs are going to be able to know more about a certain situation, instead of being oblivious.