“History has taught… it is not enough for people to be angry—the supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.” Dr. King

“History has…taught… it is not enough for people to be angry—the supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.”

—“Honoring Dr. Du Bois” (1968)

This is from a speech Dr. MLK Jr. gave honoring Dr. Du Bois in 1968.

We cannot talk of Dr. Du Bois without recognizing that he was a radical all of his life. Some people would like to ignore the fact that he was a Communist in his later years. It is worth noting that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely. In contemporary life the English speaking world has no difficulty with the fact that Sean O’Casey was a literary giant of the twentieth century and a Communist or that Pablo Neruda is generally considered the greatest living poet though he also served in the Chilean Senate as a Communist. It is time to cease muting the fact that Dr. Du Bois was a genius and chose to be a Communist. Our irrational, obsessive anti-communism has led us into too many quagmires to be retained as if it were a mode of scientific thinking.

Our problem isn’t that we’re “not angry enough.” It’s that we’re not organizing and uniting together to use our anger as a transformative force.

And Guy Debord’s in his book The Society of the Spectacle perfectly predicts the kind of performative outrage that we see today, and would rightfully label it as The Spectacle. But The Spectacle goes much deeper than just social media. It pervades every aspect of our lives.

https://files.libcom.org/files/The%20Society%20of%20the%20Spectacle%20Annotated%20Edition.pdf

https://hyperallergic.com/an-illustrated-guide-to-guy-debords-the-society-of-the-spectacle/

The spectacle is the stage at which the commodity has succeeded in totally colonizing social life. Commodification is not only visible, we no longer see anything else; the world we see is the world of the commodity... social space is blanketed with ever-new layers of commodities. With the “second industrial revolution,” alienated consumption has become as much a duty for the masses as alienated production.

Whereas during the primitive stage of capitalist accumulation “political economy considers the proletarian only as a worker,’‘ who only needs to be allotted the indispensable minimum for maintaining his labor power, and never considers him “in his leisure and humanity,’‘ this ruling-class perspective is revised as soon as commodity abundance reaches a level that requires an additional collaboration from him. Once his workday is over, the worker is suddenly redeemed from the total contempt toward him that is so clearly implied by every aspect of the organization and surveillance of production, and finds himself seemingly treated like a grown-up, with a great show of politeness, in his new role as a consumer.

Debord postulates that capitalist accumulation will reach a stage where every aspect of our lives will become commodified. That capitalism will not only seek to exert power over the worker during his working hours, but also during his off-time. Every aspect of life will be turned to serving capital - if you’re not laboring, you will be consuming, and when you’re not consuming, you will be laboring so that others may consume.

The Spectacle is used to keep the masses pacified, alienated, and divided. The Spectacle reduces us to something less than human - a fleshy automaton awaiting orders. The Spectacle tells us what to think. The Spectacle tells us what to desire.

And so, we’re angry, because The Spectacle feeds us images that evoke anger. We’re despondent, because agents of The Spectacle tell us that there’s nothing we can do. The Spectacle isolates and then feeds us false images which teach us that the real pain of isolation we feel can be resolved through consumption. A higher salary a bigger house, a better car, a better spouse - and then everything will be OK.

The agent of the spectacle who is put on stage as a star is the opposite of an individual; he is as clearly the enemy of his own individuality as of the individuality of others. Entering the spectacle as a model to be identified with, he renounces all autonomous qualities in order to identify himself with the general law of obedience to the flow of things.

Every image is curated. Nothing is real. We’re fed snapshots and soundbites. Every blemish photoshopped away, every stumbling over a word edited out.

The reigning economic system is a vicious circle of isolation. Its technologies are based on isolation, and they contribute to that same isolation. From automobiles to television, the goods that the spectacular system chooses to produce also serve it as weapons for constantly reinforcing the conditions that engender “lonely crowds.” With ever-increasing concreteness the spectacle recreates its own presuppositions.

To break free we must become aware of The Spectacle. To become aware that reality has become replaced with images and representations of reality, images and representations which serve to keep us isolated and despondent. We must seize back control of our consciousness, decide for ourselves, become an active participant in our own lives. It’s hard work - it’s much easier to passively watch than it is to actively participate.

It’s easier to wait for someone else to fix the political system. It’s easier to rage online, believe the agents of The System that say it’s all rigged anyway and hopeless, than it is to organize together with like-minded revolutionaries.

The system wants you to be a passive consumer. The revolution requires you to be an active participant in your own destiny.