Philosopher Slavoj Zizeck on Democracy Now- 4/6

[nabuco00]

Zizek on Capitalism : "The more rotten it is the better it functions!" !

[superjules]

Zizek's nose doubles as a hair gel dispenser.

[ilikeclouds]

I love listening to his take on things.

[arijitrule]

The protests matters. Quoting Noam... Iraq is bad but it is nothing like what US did in Vietnam. I agree to his point that going to protest for one day does not solve solve the problems but that is what guys like Zinn, Chomsky etc have been saying for a long time.

[seedofvision]

Very entertaining, but brilliant too. Wouldn't it be nice if more people listened to him--then refined their own way of looking at things?

[prosvjeta]

5:50 "...those in power like certain type of moralistic protest which does nothing..."

[DoJaenin]

I like his point about political matters being reduced to questions of lifestyle, I think this applies also and especially to ecological matters - but if he calls nature a "mechanism" one more time I'll gag him with a Wilhelm Reich book ;)

[sptfgpn]

It's difficult to sing and play the violin simultaneously.

[staggy916]

That violin/banjo session was just so Slavoj could go sniff some more coke.

"Sh!t Amy... Got any banjo music i can snort to?"

Clearly.

[Karcharokles]

According to my geological knowledge there is nothing catastrophical about the origin of oil (apart from a certain degree of epicontinental anoxia). In fact, oil and coal are indicators of high biological productivity. Of course it took A LOT of organisms to die and deposit, but that happened during VERY long periods of time...

[Forkroute]

I love this guy..I agree with him nearly on anything

[wtret]

you philosopher! you should know that global warming is a real problem according to most climate experts and not necessarily indulge in generalized ideas that nature per se is dangerous. but you have a lot interesting things to say nevertheless.

[aghneya]

he agrees. he's trying to make a more general point though that the idea of the "natural" is problematic. everything has had contact with humans... does that make everything unnatural?

not sure if he totally knows where that insight goes, but someone should find out.

[9407113678]

I think he's rather subtle in his Marxism actually not pessimistic per se. He's constantly relating to the unity of opposites etc.

[klimes86]

I think Zizek is a really important thinker and he is entertaining and communicable on top of it. Many of his observations are so stimulating.

[Nmbrz]

these idiots spelled his name wrong

[gloryoski]

If he wants people to mispronounce his name, why not misspell it too? I would chill. The importance is to get the ideas out there, no?

[Nmbrz]

yeah, but its an indication that his ideas are not getting out there when people can't even spell the man's name

gah fuck, nevermind

[jazzydurkheim]

I wonder what type of atomic catastrophy would occur if you put him on the Bill O'Reilly factor on fox... wow

[p0lyph0ny]

Zizek on the O'Reilly factor...haha...that would be a hilarious catastrophe indeed. Oh god, now I really want it to happen...

[aghneya]

me too. hilarious

[fahim113]

@jazzydurkheim Or even worse...Zizek Vs. Glenn Beck...oh dear

[aandreya]

@jazzydurkheim bill would tell him he's wrong :P

[harbinger79]

His critique of today's Left is so spot on. I couldn't believe the mentality at work in the anti-war meetings I've been to over the last 7 years. It was all about raising funds and making signs. None of it had to do with WINNING.

[whizbang47]

Oops! Its not thriving on this catastrophy. So much for that theory. Pessimism isn't what Marxism needs now.

[cherryblossomgirl29]

This guy is so intense. He just made love to me with his voracious mind.

[dantesh88]

lol - have you seen his wife?! Type 'Slavoj Zizek wedding photos' into google - just shows that sometimes even hairy old intellectuals can attract good looking young women. ;-)

[AxlVanSixx]

What, I'm not Marxist enough for you? ;-)

[natashalevkova]

chick seem to be unprepared

[idreamedmusic]

Her name is Amy Goodman. Just sayin'...

[brendanmcooney]

you beat me too it again. i was just about to post this.

[benchimin]

It must be hard to be prepared for an interview with Zizek. He goes all over the place- about 40 different ideas in one reply.

Still, she wasn't great.

[brendanmcooney]

you don't have to be prepared to interview Zizek- you just say "nice tie" and then let him talk for 2 hours.

[benchimin]

"But what is tie? Tie is both the tying and, at the same time, the actual untying itself...it is like is like white bread that has all the goodness of brown, but is yet distanced from itself....it reminds me of some graffiti I saw in a toilet in St Petersburg once....it says, but no, the point is...."

I love him

[brendanmcooney]

"but i think we should take it one step further... Here, reference to the concept of the void in Lacan may help us: The tie as a closed narrative loop that encloses a void..."

yeah i could just listen to Zizek all day long.

[bapyou]

brendanmcooney:

"you don't have to be prepared to interview Zizek- you just say "nice tie" and then let him talk for 2 hours."

He's not wearing a tie.