no matter how bad Zizek's takes get, I still can't really get mad at him, because he was my gateway to a whole galaxy of leftist thought
Aren't wsws the contrarian weirdos who are like anti-MeToo and have defended Harvey Weinstein and/or Woody Allen? Not to dismiss this piece but they're incredibly deranged and it's hard to take anything they publish seriously
Zizek's piece is really bad, it's eurocentric trash and made me legit wish for the downfall of Europe so people stop drinking the fascist "european values should be preserved" kool-aid. Maybe you should read it and make up your own mind though.
If that's the problem here's basically the same critique from another source, maybe even better established: https://www.midwesternmarx.com/articles/a-lemming-leading-the-lemmings-slavoj-zizek-and-the-terminal-collapse-of-the-anti-war-left-by-jonathan-cook
I think there was a mild polite request sometime ago to archive wsws, if possible
I'm having a hard time finding authors who critique western 'non-ideology' in the same way Zizek does. I was like "ooh, Mark Fisher!" and then I crack it open and he quotes Zizek.
Capitalist Realism is a lot more readable than anything I've seen by Zizek, though.
I thought he was complaining a few years ago that The Guardian stopped publishing him because he didn't have the establishment view about something? Maybe gender or race? I guess if he starts toeing the line he can start making that money again.
The CIA is blackmailing him with video of him defiling a pile of hot dogs on a hotel bed.
This makes sense from Zizek. He has in the past made statements about the superiority of European values. It follows that he would see (western) Europe as the good guys and potential saviors of this situation.
Has Zizek actually engaged in real world struggle? Parenti has put himself out there against Western Imperialism, Chomsky engages in Palestinian struggles. WTF does Zizek do except pop culture critiques? Zizek is an Ivory tower academic, I don't think he actually believes in Communism, he just wants to be a contrarian and the other side of the extremes (Nazism) is absolutely not acceptable in the mainstream. Didn't he run as a Liberal politician after the fall of the Eastern Bloc?
To be fair communism is pretty unacceptable too, but yeah I agree Zizek has never done or said anything that has put himself or his job in jeopardy.
the most important part to remember about him is that he's an annoyed contrarian. He calls himself whatever he thinks will make someone mad at him so he can laugh or get published
Because the only time you're saying anything is when you call yourself a communist. Bill Gates calls himself a socialist.
He is being provocative. He believes that provocation is necessary to break out of the capitalist realism inability to imagine any alternative. Provocation does a job in his philosophy.
listen to this debate where the host pins him down on his 'stubborn attachment to communism'. Lots of rambling zizek answers.
I think I'd like Zizek if I read him. For me it's not even that other ideologies are wrong, it's that they can't even be wrong. "Communism" insists that, no, politics is a thing with right or wrong answers. I don't know if Zizek is saying that but I do notice he's never shy in talking about communist errors.
another podcast where he's asked this question here. The interview starts around 22 minutes. This is a philosophy podcast so he gives a more technical answer but it's still not "clear".
I think it would be clear(er) if we knew the works. Todd McGowan seems to get Zizek and he's a humble non-grifter.
two things, they use the phrase for how ideology works, "they don't know why they're doing it but the important thing is they're doing it" and the analogy that the proper cause and effect is "first you pray and then you believe". Both of those seem related to the way Zizek calls himself a communist.
My guess is he uses it as a lense to view popular culture and society, but as tool to understand history, economics, and oppression. So he misses real policy, but boy can he tell you how a movie is filled with ideology. Which is fun, but like, put your money where your mouth is
Where does he say that? He's always said that Marx was wrong about some things and that was need to read Hegel through Marx.
I think he explicitly refuses that label. I remember that coming up in the Zizek/Peterson circus, Zizek saying that he himself is not even a Marxist but just someone who has studied Marx a bit.
control f pseudo. Pseudo-philosophical, pseudo-leftist, peudo-intellectual.
