In a world which really is topsy-turvy, the true is a moment of the false.
Debord is here asserting that the world has become some conflicted and conflated with the collision between what is authentic and the false phony spectacle constructed to appear authentic, that it can almost be impossible to determine the difference. But it is possible because the truth is the opposite of the false.
The spectacle is a permanent opium war...
The spectacle is given definition here through a direct metaphorical comparison to addiction. The utilization of the metaphor is related to significance of the transformation of necessary goods to commodities which begin to define lifestyle and one’s satisfaction with life. The greater the influence of commodifying unnecessary things into seeming to be necessary for the enjoyment of life, the more the spectacle becomes a dependency.
The agent of the spectacle placed on stage as a star is the opposite of the individual
Don’t trust the agent of the spectacle. He is a player in the charge of the collective effort to distract and subsume into the ideology of falsification. Debord insists that one must recognize the agents of the spectacle in every capacity where they exist to draw others into the myth of attaining satisfaction through identification with commodities.
The spectacle is the guardian of sleep.
This metaphor is one of the most significant because of its far-reaching implication. All the promises which are made by the spectacle are essentially dreams related to acquisition of commodities and the promise of satisfaction they guarantee. Those buying into this promise are therefore figuratively sleepwalking through real life and must be remain so in order for the dream to remain real. Wakefulness is the nightmare of the spectacle.
The need to imitate which is felt by the consumer is precisely the infantile need conditioned by all the aspects of his fundamental dispossession.
Consumers are treated as children by those selling them the products advertised to convince them of their necessity for attaining happiness. And just like a child learns to develop an identity by imitating those around him, so does this elemental aspect of growth and development play an essential role in the process of commodification. The inherent irony being that this process of imitation is precisely the opposite of the maturation process; it becomes, in fact, a process of de-maturation or infantilizing the adult consumer.
