> To put it in terms of the good old Marxist couple infrastructure/superstructure:
> One should take into account the irreducible duality of, on the one hand, the
> “objective” material socio-economic processes taking place in reality as well as,
> on the other hand, the politico-ideological process proper. What if the domain of
> politics is inherently “sterile,” a theater of shadows, but nonetheless crucial
> in transforming reality? So, although economy is the real site and politics a
> theater of shadows, the main fight is to be fought in politics and ideology.
There's an additional rabbit hole within the rabbit hole: the politics/ideology of the total system is synonymous with the appearance/reality of the consumer culture. Put another way, that which is illusionary (the German term is Schein, an "appearance" but also a bill or financial note) is the realest thing about the total system.
Neo is the embryonic Shinji Ikari.
-- DRR