"This is going to be great television".....The revolution will not be televised
A reflection on how entertainment and the spectacle have become the real thing
I reeled whilst listening to Trump and Vance publicly bully Zelensky in the Oval Office, tearing up all notions of respectful protocol, aiming to humiliate the leader of a courageous nation who are standing against a military might led by a totalitarian leader. At the end of this spectacle, Trump said "This is going to be great television". Wow! Trumps mind was on the TV ratings. Millions of lives have been impacted, cities and communities destroyed, children taken, millions of refugees, hundreds of thousands of young Russian conscripts dead and injured, thousands of Ukrainians slaughtered and Trump says …..’This is going to be great television’ .
I immediately thought of Gill Scott-Heron’s rap song, "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised", one of the most iconic protest songs of the 20th century. It made me wonder if two revolutions are taking place; the one that will be televised, and the one that won’t be televised. Gill Scott Heron released his song in the 1970s, pre the internet and social media world we now inhabit, so lets update his title “The revolution will not be Televised, Instagrammed, Facebooked or Tik-Tok’d”
Consciousness Raising Scott-Heron was talking about a consciousness raising revolution that would drive social justice and change, particularly around issues of race. His point was that mind-numbing television and the media focuses on distractions rather than on systemic oppression or activism.
Capitalist Manipulation He critiques corporate influence, suggesting that revolution isn't something that can be packaged or sold like a product.
The famous Coke advert of 1971 revealed how the corporate world quickly learnt to harness the counter-cultural social movements of 1968 that proclaimed love, choice, freedom, expression of identity, celebrating diversity and anti-authoritarianism to enhance their brand. For millions the real thing was no-longer activist social movements struggling for freedom and justice, it was about personally identifying with being cool, with the image…. young people from across the world on the mountain, free, happy and drinking coke… the real thing!
Direct Action Over Spectacle
Gill Scott-Heron implies that the consciousness raising revolution must happen in the streets and within communities, not through mainstream institutions. He contrasts the civil rights and Black Power movements with mass-media portrayals, asserting that real change happens through action, not passive observation.
Guy Debord in 1967 identified this trend in his book The Society of the Spectacle foreseeing what has happened now. Debord, a member of the Situationist International, argued that in capitalist societies, social life is increasingly mediated through representations—what he calls the spectacle. Instead of direct experience, people engage with the world primarily through images, advertisements, and media, leading to passivity and alienation.
The Spectacle as Social Relationships – The spectacle is not just mass media but a system where everything is experienced indirectly through representations rather than lived reality.
Alienation and Passivity – People become passive consumers of images rather than active participants in shaping their world.
Commodity Fetishism – Building on Marxist thought, Debord argues that commodities take on a life of their own, and social relationships are mediated by things rather than direct human interaction.
Since Debord the rise of social media, AI and digital communications, the terrain has amplified beyond all limits, and the society of the spectacle has triumphed
Two Revolutions Today
I fear that Gill Scott-Heron was only partially correct. There are two revolutions happening, and one is being televised.
The Consciousness Numbing Revolution will be Televised, instagrammed, Facebooked, Tik-Tok’d. This revolution is already happening, oligarchs, tech-barons and populist politicians have created a fragile coalition that harnesses the power of the image and the spectacle. They provide excess entertainment to distract, whilst gaining wealth and power whilst pursuing ever-greater domination over the public, political and economic space. The spectacle replaces solidarity with entertainment, meaning with mania, reflection with rage, hope with hate.
The Consciousness Raising Revolution will not be Televised, instagrammed, Facebooked, Tik-Tok’d’
There is a counter-revolution happening to the tyranny of the Tik-Tok world, we see playing out today. There is a lack at the heart of today’s mainstream politics. This lack cannot be addressed by a passive audience waiting for change. Grass-roots activism, communities organising will fill the lack as people will soon grow get tired of mania, rage and hate, sick of mind-numbing entertainment that reduces us to doom scrolling, binge-watching creatures from planet despair. Gill Scott-Heron reminds us that change isn’t a passive event—it requires real, engaged participation. The revolution is in communities, protests, and daily struggles, not in a TV program, a spectacle of entertainment.
Which Revolution are you part of? The Consciousness Numbing one, or the Consciousness Raising one? Time to get active!