Design Discourse One

A Reevaluation of the Situationist Thesis

Veronique Vienne

• Our minds are linked to what we do. A body that sits idle will dull their mind, while someone who crafts with their hands will stimulate and improve their nervous system.
• Many simply buy products to satisfy themselves, but not necessarily think.
• "Acquiring things is a poor alternative to fashioning objects"
• "The more you consume, the less you live."
• Members of the Situationists would deliberately disorient themselves and refuse labor-saving devices to stimulate their minds.
• "They are buying your happiness; steal it back."
• French describe happiness as being euphoric, mischievous, prankish.
• "Environmentalists, students, anarchists, but also old socialists, christians tired of violence on TV, critics of genetic engineering and card carrying Union members- every single one of them worried about some unofficial global government body enforcing some elite agenda"
• Social and Environmental responsibility of Graphic Designers
• Drifting, defying space-time

This is a cynical and very appropriate quote for the overall tone of the article. People nowadays just seem to dwell on material well-being and are because of it, becoming very narrow-minded and dulled husks of what they could've had the potential to be. Its a shame. Its a bigger shame that they are throughly taken advantage of by governments and corporations for their own well-being, their own material well-being.

This is exactly what Veronique and the Situationists were ashamed of in this world. People who only take in, who do not contribute to the world. Whats interesting is that he is holding a football, but instead of playing, he is simply watching television. A body that sits idle numbs the mind. People really are becoming brainless by doing nothing, and its a shame because each and everyone of us really does feel better when we make something, so how come we don't get up and actually do it?

This image in particular is a good representation of what the Land of the Free has become. A Land of the Minds imprisoned to consumerism. Our country wholly supports our unrelenting appetite of stale enjoyment. I wonder what our forefathers would have thought had they seen our country's future, or the thousands of people that indeed recognize the sad state of our nation, but are unwitting to do anything about it. A big help they are.