But certainly for the present age, which prefers the sign to the thing signified, the copy to the original, representation to reality, the appearance to the essence...illusion only is sacred, truth profane. Nay, sacredness is held to be enhanced in proportion as truth decreases and illusion increases so that the highest degree of illusion comes to be the highest degree of sacredness.

This illusion, this spectacle lies at the world's loss of unity through cannibalistic economic expansion. The reigning economic system is founded on isolation; at the same time it is a circular process designed to produce isolation. Isolation underpins technology and technology isolates in turn; all goods produced by the spectacular system, from cars to televisions, also serve as weapons for that system as it strives to reinforce the isolation of "the lonely crowd." The spectacle is continually rediscovering its own basic assumptions - and each time in a more concrete manner.