Slavoj Zizek, "My Britney Spears Theory of Action"
Every week I check the weather in Longyearbyen, the main settlement in Svalbard. It’s about as close as you can get to a gulag with a human face – a heap of wooden houses where around 2,000 people live. It has a couple of stores and restaurants, and even a very small university. Outside the two streets, there’s much open space in which to walk. You don’t have to go far before being greeted with warning signs: ‘Don’t walk beyond this line without a gun! Danger of polar bears!’ At the door to all the cafés there is another sign: ‘Please leave your guns at the entrance!’ How can you not love a settlement like this? I can imagine living here. My life would be simultaneously a holiday and hard work – as I always imagined communism.
That said, I don’t hate Ljubljana, where I reside. My memories of a youth under communism are much better. In the early 1970s, we got the last Indian summer of more hard-line communism, so that, after finishing my studies, I wasn’t able to get a job. Even this proved to be a blessing in disguise. After a couple of years of unemployment, I got a post at a small research institute which gave me time to travel around, study abroad and establish professional links. The supreme irony is that, without the ‘Stalinist oppression’ of the mid-1970s, I would have been given a post at the university. I’d now be a little-known professor in Ljubljana, losing time with noisy and inquisitive students.
Britney Spears has reached a settlement with her estranged father more than two years after the court-ordered termination of a conservatorship that had given him control of her life. I wasn’t in the least surprised to learn that, when she finally achieved the long-desired freedom, her personal life went into freefall. To explain, one has to go back to an interview she gave to MTV in 2003 when she was asked about the second Gulf War. ‘I don’t quite understand it,’ she said. ‘All I know is that, at a certain point, we ordinary people should simply trust our president in every decision he makes and should just support that, and be faithful in what happens.’ Obviously, she applied the same rule in her dealings with her father, trusting him in every decision she made. She’s paying the price for it.
At the time I coined this the ‘Britney Spears Theory of Action’. The lesson to be drawn from her mishap is that, in our political life, the era in which we could trust those in power is over. If we don’t regain a truly critical attitude, not just a cynical distance towards those in power, we all may end up like Spears did. Does anyone really think we can trust our leaders today in every decision they make?
With some delay, I saw the Japanese-German film Perfect Days. Koji Yakusho plays Hirayama, a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, who is content with his simple life. From dawn, he follows a ritualised daily rhythm. His free time is dedicated to his passion for music, listening to records in his van to and from work, and reading books every night before bed. He would be an ideal listener of Taylor Swift. Her music ideally fits today’s predominant mode of subjectivity: it avoids both extremes of neoconservative populism and of left-liberal politically correct stiffness, focusing instead on the apolitical sphere of broken love affairs and similar daily traumas or small pleasures. This is why her anti-Trump stance provokes fury and even conspiracy theories. The US elections will be won by the party who attracts the majority of the apolitical youth.
We have been bombarded by news about how criminal gangs have taken over the public space in Haiti. This decay of public power is not limited to third-world countries like Haiti. Western focus should be on Israel as a first-world failed state. Away from Gaza, Israelis continue to menace Palestinians in the West Bank. They are doing this while the Israeli army and police stand idly by. Is this not another case of illegal gangs openly violating the law?
Recently, I have been obsessively listening to podcasts about Tristan da Cunha, the 98 sq km island in the middle of nowhere in the South Atlantic. On 10 October 1961, a volcanic eruption forced the evacuation of all 264 people to the UK. In 1963 almost all of them returned, withstanding the temptation of developed capitalism. The island has a unique social and economic structure based on solidarity, not competition. All the resident families farm and all land is communally owned… in short, it is a communist island. So much more than Bhutan with its ridiculous ‘dictatorship of happiness’, Tristan da Cunha should serve as a model for all of us.
54 comments:
\\Every week I check the weather in Longyearbyen, the main settlement in Svalbard. It’s about as close as you can get to a gulag with a human face
""
Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the archipelago, the seat of the governor and the only incorporated town. The town features an airport, hospital, primary and secondary school, university, sports center with a swimming pool, library, culture center, cinema, bus transport, hotels, a bank, and several museums.
Svalbard - Wikipedia
""
Ou'Yeah... That is GULAG... 100%%%%-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
And peaceful community of amishes... that is Khmer Rouge death field. With Human Face... my ass.
^&%&*^%$#@!#$!%%&^*^&(&*(*&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
\\My life would be simultaneously a holiday and hard work – as I always imagined communism.
BS.
\\My memories of a youth under communism are much better. In the early 1970s, we got the last Indian summer of more hard-line communism, so that, after finishing my studies, I wasn’t able to get a job. Even this proved to be a blessing in disguise. After a couple of years of unemployment,
Communism... my ass. :-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
In Soviet Union... they was called "tuneyadets"/freeloader. And was caught by police/"militia".
\\ got a post at a small research institute which gave me time to travel around, study abroad and establish professional links.
Yeah... communism. :-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
\\The supreme irony is that, without the ‘Stalinist oppression’ of the mid-1970s,
Do he know that Stalin died in 1953????
And 1970th... was times where USSR signed Human Rights Charter.
And tried to build "socialism with human face".
\\The island has a unique social and economic structure based on solidarity, not competition. All the resident families farm and all land is communally owned… in short, it is a communist island. So much more than Bhutan with its ridiculous ‘dictatorship of happiness’, Tristan da Cunha should serve as a model for all of us.
Tinsy little problem here.
For that. All... or at least significant. Part of Humanity.
Must achieve level of understanding of "Spaceship Earth" concept.
That means... that they have NO exclusive right to put their hand on anything they see themself fit to pit in use: like cutting wood in Amazonia, or pumping oil like crazy. ;-P
\Every week I check the weather in Longyearbyen, the main settlement in Svalbard. It’s about as close as you can get to a gulag with a human face
""
Longyearbyen
Longyearbyen is the largest settlement on the archipelago, the seat of the governor and the only incorporated town. The town features an airport, hospital, primary and secondary school, university, sports center with a swimming pool, library, culture center, cinema, bus transport, hotels, a bank, and several museums.
Svalbard - Wikipedia
""
Ou'Yeah... That is GULAG... 100%%%%-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
And peaceful community of amishes... that is Khmer Rouge death field. With Human Face... my ass.
^&%&*^%$#@!#$!%%&^*^&(&*(*&!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Muppet's gulag???
\\My life would be simultaneously a holiday and hard work – as I always imagined communism.
/BS.
Tito was a pushover???
\\My memories of a youth under communism are much better. In the early 1970s, we got the last Indian summer of more hard-line communism, so that, after finishing my studies, I wasn’t able to get a job. Even this proved to be a blessing in disguise. After a couple of years of unemployment,
/Communism... my ass. :-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
In Soviet Union... they was called "tuneyadets"/freeloader. And was caught by police/"militia".
...and given a well deserved tongue lashing!
\\ got a post at a small research institute which gave me time to travel around, study abroad and establish professional links.
/Yeah... communism. :-))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Tito. Not quite under Stalin's thumb...
\\The supreme irony is that, without the ‘Stalinist oppression’ of the mid-1970s,
/Do he know that Stalin died in 1953????
And 1970th... was times where USSR signed Human Rights Charter.
And tried to build "socialism with human face".
Yugoslavia was a different story entirely. I hear that NASA bought their Space Program... ;)
\\The island has a unique social and economic structure based on solidarity, not competition. All the resident families farm and all land is communally owned… in short, it is a communist island. So much more than Bhutan with its ridiculous ‘dictatorship of happiness’, Tristan da Cunha should serve as a model for all of us.
/Tinsy little problem here.
For that. All... or at least significant. Part of Humanity.
Must achieve level of understanding of "Spaceship Earth" concept.
That means... that they have NO exclusive right to put their hand on anything they see themself fit to pit in use: like cutting wood in Amazonia, or pumping oil like crazy. ;-P
Naaaah. If someone touches your stuff, you just beat the cr*p out of them!
\\Muppet's gulag???
Yeah. :-))))
\\Tito was a pushover???
Naaah. That was about idea many westerners have... about "communism".
First of all -- there was NO communism... like there was NO "kingdom of Jesus on the Earth". ;-P
\\...and given a well deserved tongue lashing!
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
See! (perfect confirmation/demonstration to above)
\\Yugoslavia was a different story entirely. I hear that NASA bought their Space Program... ;)
Whole Soviet Union... was "different story" in 70th... and in 80th... and in 90th... oh, oups! :-)))))))))))))))))))))
\\Naaaah. If someone touches your stuff, you just beat the cr*p out of them!
And in the process making hole in a spaceship hull... with known result
And... here we are. With female xenomorph. And female cyborg. ;-P And no man to make put em into use. Bu-ga-gah!!! :-))))
\\Tito was a pushover???
/Naaah. That was about idea many westerners have... about "communism".
First of all -- there was NO communism... like there was NO "kingdom of Jesus on the Earth". ;-P
Dictatorship of the proletariate never arrived? Too bad. But then again, "True Socialism" (leading to Communism and a whithering of the State) has never REALLY been tried, some Marxists say. Only "vulgar Marxism" has been attempted. ;)
\\...and given a well deserved tongue lashing!
/:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
See! (perfect confirmation/demonstration to above)
Surely no coercion or use of FORCE would be required!!! THAT would just be oppression...
\\Yugoslavia was a different story entirely. I hear that NASA bought their Space Program... ;)
/Whole Soviet Union... was "different story" in 70th... and in 80th... and in 90th... oh, oups! :-)))))))))))))))))))))
They're BACK!...
\\Naaaah. If someone touches your stuff, you just beat the cr*p out of them!
/And in the process making hole in a spaceship hull... with known result
And... here we are. With female xenomorph. And female cyborg. ;-P And no man to make put em into use. Bu-ga-gah!!! :-))))
How romantic!! :P
\\Dictatorship of the proletariate never arrived?
And Jesus have became King? ;-P
\\ But then again, "True Socialism" (leading to Communism and a whithering of the State) has never REALLY been tried, some Marxists say.
YAP.
Same as Christians... still in waiting of Second Coming. ;-P
\\Surely no coercion or use of FORCE would be required!!! THAT would just be oppression...
Still... know NO trivia.
\\Dictatorship of the proletariate never arrived?
/And Jesus have became King? ;-P
When he went through the rotating Black hole into His alternate heavenly parallel Universe per the Penrose diagram... ;)
\\ But then again, "True Socialism" (leading to Communism and a whithering of the State) has never REALLY been tried, some Marxists say.
/YAP.
Same as Christians... still in waiting of Second Coming. ;-P
...if only he can find that same rotating black hole... he'll be back! Maybe you could build some new tech for assistance.
\\Surely no coercion or use of FORCE would be required!!! THAT would just be oppression...
/Still... know NO trivia.
Marx wouldn't lie. Communism is an Historical inevitability!
\\When he went through the rotating Black hole into His alternate heavenly parallel Universe per the Penrose diagram... ;)
Whatever you say.
Not a bad alternative ending of that famous book. ;-P
\\Marx wouldn't lie. Communism is an Historical inevitability!
And why exactly? ;-P
statement clear? Or not? ;-P
\\When he went through the rotating Black hole into His alternate heavenly parallel Universe per the Penrose diagram... ;)
/Whatever you say.
Not a bad alternative ending of that famous book. ;-P
Just add a scientism...
\\Marx wouldn't lie. Communism is an Historical inevitability!
/And why exactly? ;-P
/statement clear? Or not? ;
Because the end of Capitalism is an American monopoly. ;p
btw - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Diamond'>;p (Yermak-McFaul Expert Group)
" He is a founding co-editor of the National Endowment for Democracy's (NED) Journal of Democracy"
...says it all. Welcome to the Machine (aka 'The Blob'). ;P
Yeah...
How Real is It??? ;-P
That... most of things that are today. :-)
Or this? ;-P
Heard???
"you limited by physics"
And that's not me... that's master pilot saying. ;-P
The great thing about UAVs is that you aren't limited by HUMAN physics (ie - 10g turns)
Time of reaction? ;-)
Batteries capacity?
Electric motors peak of power?
Rotors super-sonic breakdown?
As the pilots say, "Speed is Life". That goes for UAVs as well, but NOT the quad-copter variety (batteries/motors/rotors/etc.). Reaction time!
Speed? Or speedup? ;-)
BTW... interesting to hear from you -- you opinion on politics of RFia? ;-P
I don't follow Russian politics. I simply overhear the random US media article or YouTube. The only thing I know about Russia is that I'd like to take a luxury train ride across it one day... but then the timeline on my bucket list probably isn't long enough for that. :(
:P
\\Russia is that I'd like to take a luxury train ride across it one day...
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
It was definitely worthy of effort -- to ask of you that question.
What can I say, I'm an old romantic.
They cannot accomplish "luxury train ride"... even between Mos-cow and Peter. ;-P
So... you'd need to wait for REALLY long time... :-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
For that territory to became SOMEHOW "romantic". :-))))))))))))))))))))))))))
The Muppet Gulag Tour? A Train between gulag camps? Why do people visit Auschwitz?
See the historical locations. Nothing is more romantic than that. Match places w/events.
If your are into extreme tourism. Yawn. ;-P
I think even visiting North Korea... would be LESS extreme... as of recently.
But... who am I to talk your out of it. ;-P
Eating snakes... drinking piss... sleeping in torny bushes... all this. ;-P Your NatGeo channels became.
Some of us are simply more boring than others.
Power of Advertising!!! :-)))))))))))))))
Better be boring... then infested with some indigenous parasites. ;-P
You know Dervy too well...
Ehm?????
You think?
Don't feel that much.
And... hardly care...
:P
\\But really, we've been tricked into operating safety valves that allow the status quo to survive unchallenged? "Yes, exactly."
Homeostasis!
\\"The problem with Hitler was that he was not violent enough,"
Yeah, it is.
But that is BO-O-ORING observation.
Yawn.
\\Some dismiss him as a silly controversialist;
Yap.
Enough to scary gullible Westerners.
That's like what Lem said about Stephen King.
Yawn.
\\ I know this is hell. This means all the frustrated idiots, who are not able to ask you a question at the end of the talk, come to you and, usually, they start: 'Professor Žižek, I know you must be tired, but …' Well, fuck you.
Yeah.
Lem was more wise. ;-P
\\"Nice consensual incremental reforms may work, possibly, at a local level." But localism belongs in the same category as organic apples, and recycling. "It's done to make you feel good. But the big question today is how to organise to act globally, at an immense international level, without regressing to some authoritarian rule."
Yap.
NOT a technologist.
Yawn.
\\Optimism means these are precisely the times when change is possible."
Yap.
But, to understand that... no need to be any genius.
Yawn.
It's not possible to make omelet... without breaking egg shell.
\\No, the art is to bring the serious message into the forum of jokes."
Little problem.
Sense of humor -- culture-dependent. ;-P
PS Well... now I know why you like him... he gives you excuse to say "f**k!".
Yawn. :-))))
\But really, we've been tricked into operating safety valves that allow the status quo to survive unchallenged? "Yes, exactly."
/Homeostasis!
That's what corporatism is. Homeostasis. All those boring Marvel Universe reboots. And how many damn Batman's do we need?
\\"The problem with Hitler was that he was not violent enough,"
/Yeah, it is.
But that is BO-O-ORING observation.
Yawn.
Only if you're an Azov supporter... ;)
\\Some dismiss him as a silly controversialist;
/Yap.
Enough to scary gullible Westerners.
That's like what Lem said about Stephen King.
Yawn.
Someone needs to shake them out of their stupidity.
\\ I know this is hell. This means all the frustrated idiots, who are not able to ask you a question at the end of the talk, come to you and, usually, they start: 'Professor Žižek, I know you must be tired, but …' Well, fuck you.
/Yeah.
Lem was more wise. ;-P
Yep. Never deal directly with the idiot. Just write down your thoughts, and walk away....
\\"Nice consensual incremental reforms may work, possibly, at a local level." But localism belongs in the same category as organic apples, and recycling. "It's done to make you feel good. But the big question today is how to organise to act globally, at an immense international level, without regressing to some authoritarian rule."
/Yap.
NOT a technologist.
Yawn
The Society of Control... unleash the algorithms.
\\Optimism means these are precisely the times when change is possible."
/Yap.
But, to understand that... no need to be any genius.
Yawn.
It's not possible to make omelet... without breaking egg shell.
Which is why it never gets made. 1% own all the eggs. And they want to keep it that way.
\\No, the art is to bring the serious message into the forum of jokes."
/Little problem.
Sense of humor -- culture-dependent. ;-P
Which explains the death of American Comedy and inability to make FUN of all the "virtue" being signalled (Gays, Illegals, Palestinians, etc).
PS Well... now I know why you like him... he gives you excuse to say "f**k!".
/Yawn. :-))))
...like I sayd, "inability to make fun of the new progressive SoJus "virtues"."
\\And how many damn Batman's do we need?
And how many Robin Hoods? ;-P
\\\\"The problem with Hitler was that he was not violent enough,"
/Yeah, it is.
But that is BO-O-ORING observation.
Yawn.
\\Only if you're an Azov supporter... ;)
If he'd be more violent -- he'd be stopped EARLIER.
Same problem as with reaction of West on liliPut.
Same problem as it was in Uvalde...
And yeah... Azov are that vigilante... that put their lifes in harm... and still are in harm... so West would continue its pleasant dreams.
But... the later it will end, that dream... the more violent way it'll be.
So... take your time, Little West... sleep well. And ALAP.
Yawn.
\\Someone needs to shake them out of their stupidity.
Vigilante... Pearl Harbor???
\\Yep. Never deal directly with the idiot. Just write down your thoughts, and walk away....
Well... he was blessed with having quittance with some really bright minds...
\\The Society of Control... unleash the algorithms.
:-)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
\\Which is why it never gets made. 1% own all the eggs. And they want to keep it that way.
Pft!
\\...like I sayd, "inability to make fun of the new progressive SoJus "virtues"."
There is time to gather stones... there is time to throw stones...
But, to throw a stone, first you need to gather it into your bosom. ;-P
Naaah. 1st thing is to get a fake beard!
To play Santa Claus? ;-P
No, to pretend to be a man so that you can stone the "criminal"...
*foot tapping*...
I'm going to start calling you Pablo...
Well... I think I became closer and closer to YOUR understanding of Derpy.
Start wanting to smack it... with something heavy. :-)))))))))))))))))))
He's harmless so long as his friends aren't in power.
Do you have some reporter... that would like to have Pulitcer? ;-P
For investigation that liliPut... is dead.
Or... that is that same "omerta" secret. Nobody on the West allowed to mention?
If he is dead it doesn't matter. We've always his double's "handlers" to contend with.
As for me, I doubt that it ever was "just crazy Putin". Like America isn't "just Sleepy Joe". It's the Deep State, and all her minions.
\\\If he is dead it doesn't matter.
BS.
Means... death of Hitler, would not stop war? ;-P
\\We've always his double's "handlers" to contend with.
Yeah.
But there always BIG difference. Between one man decision. And "design by a committee". ;-P
\\As for me, I doubt that it ever was "just crazy Putin".
Then... you wise than most of Westerners. ;-)
\\ It's the Deep State, and all her minions.
Naaah.
That's monopolistic capitalism... that growing into Imperialism. Naturally.
And you say that you know anything from Marx. %-))))))
Harpo or Groucho?
:P
:-))))))))))))))))))))))))00
Humor... we'll need it. Same as in their times...
Yap!
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