They Think we Have our Eyes Wide Shut

          Guy Debord's Society as a Spectacle accurately  depicts how an economy holds an extremely high value on commodities.  Debord speaks on various subconscious topics that help mold the value on a commodity.  He also goes onto talk about how a commodity helps mold a human, an economy, and even the world.  

          Debord says, "Here we have the principle of commodity fetishism, the domination of society by things whose qualities are "at the same time perceptible and imperceptible by the senses." This principle is absolutely fulfilled in the spectacle, where the perceptible world is replaced by a set of images that are superior to that world yet at the same time impose themselves as eminently perceptible."(Debord 37) 

          We live in a day and age where we get fooled by certain images and brands.  We get misled by brands selling themselves to be more superior than others and they actually really.  Commodities are always trying to push themselves from the wants to needs bracket.  Look at Beats by Dre headphones for instance.  

           They are amazing headphones that were branded extremely well.  Every big time athlete and entertainer probably has been photographed wearing them.  

          No matter how 'great' they are, that doesn't warrant the price it cost for headphones used to just listen to music.  (They currently run for about $200.)  Beats by Dre headphones are absurdly overpriced, but consumers continue to purchase them.  Humans have actually died over these headphones.  I guess the glitz and glamour behind wearing these headphones is immeasurable.  "If Brad Pitt wears these headphones, then I guess I'm on Brad Pitt's level," is how the common man thinks in today's day and age.

         Debord goes onto say, "The commodity world is thus shown as it really is, for its logic is one with men's estrangement from one another and from the sum total of what they produce.  

The commodity form is characterized exclusively by self­equivalence ­­ it is exclusively quantitative in nature: the quantitative is what it develops, and it can only develop within the quantitative."  (Debord 38) (Debord 39)  

          We equate self-worth with what commodities we have.  I'll take my mom for instance.  We are 1st generation Nigerian-Americans.  I have 0 immediate family besides my parents and siblings, living in this country.  My cousins, aunts, and uncles are all in Africa.  My grandmother on my mom's side visited us during the winter and she took a picture with snow because in her 70+ years of living, she had yet to physically see and feel it.  

           Anyway, I guess it was my moms dream or something to buy a house.  We had a decent sized apartment in Bloomfield, New Jersey.  When she had friends over, it did feel a little cramped up.  She went and bought a house in Newark, New Jersey where we currently reside.  I look at it like this, "Yea you have a house, but you live in the FUCKING hood!  Are you crazy?!"  Every-time someone asks me why my mom moved from Bloomfield to Newark, I tell them, "It's because we moved in to a house I guess.  We were in an apartment before."  They still look at me like I'm crazy though.  
          
           This all goes back to self-worth being in cohesion with what commodities you have.  I personally think my mom subconsciously bought the house to increase her self-worth to her and her friends.  That's the only humanly possible reason I can come up with.  People will put the safety of their lives in jeopardy to increase their 'perceived' self-worth.  Debord's words hold true.    I can't completely fault her.  Someone will die without ever being able to purchase a house.  She moved here 30+ years ago and did enough in America to buy a house.  

          The needs to wants war is a war commodities are seem to be winning.  Debord put a magnifying glass on this war.  It affects us all in some sort of way, whether directly or indirectly.  I'll certainly be asking myself, "Do I NEED this", when I make my future purchases.