Quote of the Week: Slavoj Žižek
Yes, I know his background; no need to do an ad hominem. This is an excellent quote:
As for the ‘clash of civilizations’, let us recall the letter form the seven-year-old American girl whose father was a pilot fighting in Afghanistan: she wrote that — although she loved her father very much, she was ready to let him die, to sacrifice him for her country. When President Bush quoted these lines, they were perceived as a ‘normal’ outburst of American patriotism; let us conduct a simple mental experiment and imagine an Arab Muslim girl pathetically reciting into the camera the same words about her father fighting for the Taliban — we do not have to think for long about what our reaction would have been: morbid Muslim fundamentalism which does not stop even at the cruel manipulation and exploitation of children . . . . Every feature attributed to the Other is already present at the very heart of the USA. Murderous fanaticism? There are in the USA today more than two million Rightist populist ‘fundamentalists’ who also practise a terror of their own, legitimized by (their understanding of) Christianity. Since America is, in a way, ‘harbouring’ them, should the US Army have punished Americans themselves after the Oklahoma bombing?
–Slavoj Žižek, Welcome to the Desert of the Real (London: Verso Press, 2002), 43-4.
Comments are closed.
Zizek zings.
I am working through his new book “Violence” right now.
For all his zaniness, Zizek is always worth the read.
What about a father who is willing to let his son die to help make people free?
Every feature attributed to the Other is already present at the very heart of the USA.
Yes.
Policraticus and Henry,
Did you ever see him on TV or YouTube? He looks as sloppy as a homeless man and nearly certifiably insanse. But he is brilliant, prolific and oftentimes most insightful.
Mark
I’ve seen pictures of him, and he looks like he would have been a monk if things were different…
I see you are diving into the Voerso Books catalogue. Try anything by Fredric Jameson. or Peter Dews’ Logics of Disintegration, a brilliant philosophical study-synthesis in regards to post-structuralism.
I’m trying to get a hold of the documentary about him… anyone see it?
I’m more or less looking into the issue of post-modernism, hyperrealism, and the “real.” There is a connection between Zizek and Baudrillard (who I like quite a bit) with my Buddhist research, and a post I have in mind will combine the three (it may or may not reference any of the three, but all three will be had in mind). It’s interesting to me to see how the West has come up with much that was behind the idea of Sunyata — to be sure, there are significant differences, but that just adds to the enterprise I’m working with.
I will probably get other works from Verso press in time; my focus still has to be on my dissertation (1st), and teaching (2nd), but 3rd comes my own personal side-interests/reading which keep me thinking on new things.
Michael: it’s on youtube, but I have not seen it.
“What about a father who is willing to let his son die to help make people free?”
I’m sure many, if not most, parents of Muslim suicide bombers think this very thing. You are really proving the point of Henry’s post, aren’t you?
Having watched a couple of youtube clips, he sounds like a cross between Literature Professor and a guy ranting on a street corner.
Blackadderiv,
I concur completely, even though I own just about every book he has ever published in English….
“What about a father who is willing to let his son die to help make people free?”
I’m sure many, if not most, parents of Muslim suicide bombers think this very thing. You are really proving the point of Henry’s post, aren’t you?
I was talking about God the Father, MM.
Though Jesus didn’t walk into a crowded marketplace to blow up women and children to save us.
Brian Blessed should do a biographical movie on him…
Did you ever see him on TV or YouTube? He looks as sloppy as a homeless man and nearly certifiably insanse. But he is brilliant, prolific and oftentimes most insightful.
Did you see him on a YouTube video where he is in an interview on his bed without a shirt on??? Hahahahaha