“They saw their injured country's woe;
The flaming town, the wasted field;
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe;
They took the spear, - but left the shield.”
―Philip Freneau
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And by a prudent flight and cunning save A life which valour could not, from the grave. A better buckler I can soon regain, But who can get another life again?
Archilochus
“Political Correctness equals oppressed racism.” I’ve always called it “institutionalized hypocrisy,” myself, but I think Zizek’s way of looking at it may be even better.
I love this guy. Truly I do. Down to earth, warm-hearted, sincere, not egotistical, and best of all –– not afraid to call a spade a spade.
This is one of the clearest, most amiable, and most easily understood posts you've offered in my never humble opinion.
Here's what springs to my mind....Over and over again, Obama justifies his policies and programs with these words: "It's right thing to do." Effectively silences opposition most of the time. Unspoken: "To hell with the costs. To hell with individual liberty. To hell with the Constitution."
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
~ Albert Einstein
Zizek, then, has been extremely wise to try to "simplify" his message," hasn't he?
To befuddle others with mind boggling circumlocution, weighed down with extraneous, morbidly excessive detail performs a disservice to the human community, because the purpose of such carryings on is usually no higher than an attempt to persuade others that you are a great deal smarter than they.
I reject the notion that Zizek is trying to "show off" in any way (although I agree that many, myself included, do). If you had read the link, you would understand "why". The Lacanian distinguishes the "understandable" from the un-understandable kernal at the very center of every man. Not eveything CAN be "put into words." In most subjects, we are all "hysterics", unable to interpret the world. So the "analyst" (not hysteric) (Zizek) serves to put it into words as best he can to make it intelligible to the hysterical remainder of us. And even MORE importantly, to ask the questions that we, the hysterics, are unable to put into words and ask/asnwer for ourselves.
That Zizek can be complex is useful in that it allows others to understand "how" he arrives at his positions. This makes his methods "repeatable" and allows for others to become "analysts" as well.
...and it's NOT government job to do the "right thing". If the things government attempts to do today were the de facto "right" thing, people would already be doing them all.
The obscenity of "questioning" is one of the reasons why the Frankfurt School and "critical theory" is so subversive. It aims to "stump" Authority, expose it's foundations in "Un-reason", and fill that gap with pseudo-intellectual and mostly self-serving "answers".
10 comments:
“Political Correctness equals oppressed racism.” I’ve always called it “institutionalized hypocrisy,” myself, but I think Zizek’s way of looking at it may be even better.
I love this guy. Truly I do. Down to earth, warm-hearted, sincere, not egotistical, and best of all –– not afraid to call a spade a spade.
This is one of the clearest, most amiable, and most easily understood posts you've offered in my never humble opinion.
He has been simplifying his message over time...
...by leaving out the more complex and counter-intuitive Lacanian elements.
Like on "why" we feel "guilt" when questioned.
Excellent video!
Here's what springs to my mind....Over and over again, Obama justifies his policies and programs with these words: "It's right thing to do." Effectively silences opposition most of the time. Unspoken: "To hell with the costs. To hell with individual liberty. To hell with the Constitution."
To the "Lacanaians" et al. I offer:
"If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough."
~ Albert Einstein
Zizek, then, has been extremely wise to try to "simplify" his message," hasn't he?
To befuddle others with mind boggling circumlocution, weighed down with extraneous, morbidly excessive detail performs a disservice to the human community, because the purpose of such carryings on is usually no higher than an attempt to persuade others that you are a great deal smarter than they.
I reject the notion that Zizek is trying to "show off" in any way (although I agree that many, myself included, do). If you had read the link, you would understand "why". The Lacanian distinguishes the "understandable" from the un-understandable kernal at the very center of every man. Not eveything CAN be "put into words." In most subjects, we are all "hysterics", unable to interpret the world. So the "analyst" (not hysteric) (Zizek) serves to put it into words as best he can to make it intelligible to the hysterical remainder of us. And even MORE importantly, to ask the questions that we, the hysterics, are unable to put into words and ask/asnwer for ourselves.
That Zizek can be complex is useful in that it allows others to understand "how" he arrives at his positions. This makes his methods "repeatable" and allows for others to become "analysts" as well.
...and it's NOT government job to do the "right thing". If the things government attempts to do today were the de facto "right" thing, people would already be doing them all.
The obscenity of "questioning" is one of the reasons why the Frankfurt School and "critical theory" is so subversive. It aims to "stump" Authority, expose it's foundations in "Un-reason", and fill that gap with pseudo-intellectual and mostly self-serving "answers".
Answers largely "reasoned" from an anti-authoritarian subjective position.
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