@fightpollution This was a comment that he had made during the Q&A session; it had nothing to do with the actual lecture. So, no, it has not been taken out of context. It was an isolated comment, and the context is this: he had been asked about racism, and this was his response.
That Montenegrin jokes so old, I haven't heard it since before Marshall Tito hit puberty. I'm half Serb, half Croat; & I'm constantly offending myself with my puerile politically incorrect humour. Which is better than beating myself up about it I suppose.
I think I can agree with his sentiment in principle. However, where I disagree is that the kind of jokes and 'casual' non-pc discrimination he's talking about is only really ok and an expression of solidarity when there is no natural power imbalance. I think trouble arises when there is systematic oppression or power imbalance between the in-group and out-group members- it normalizes and tacitly supports the discrimination. This video is an ideal, for people who are smart enough to know better.
Jokes serve solidarity only if the obsequiousness in the laugh (i.e., the renouncing response) is the sacrifice of self for larger radical praxis, rather than for the father (i.e., individualistic psychical {oedipal} survival strategy). Zizek typically joins both via bourgeois psychoanalytic Marxism, but here he omits his Lacan.
logically he should abandon marxism completely as an ideology and declare it just another religion but then he'd lose the following and all the friends he's built up over the years
Racist,or jokes about natonalism are ridiculous and boring/annoying .Things in life are relative,what is enjoying to the masses is not always enjoying to all.When are people just going to be people.
Zizek is a fat asshole - his grabbing of upper hose is making me want to slap him.I have heard these jokes so many times,they are boring like hell.Have you heard - when people of Marshall Islands burp you get a tsunami?!!!!!!!!
@hapobelle Maybe his joke wasn't that funny but he's right about this, over-reacting to small jokes, quips and remarks or honest criticism is an effect of racism, not a defense against racism, it says that you are too insecure and anxious to be relied on, which is what the racists want.
i was born in serbia and i also enjoy these dirty, nationalistic jokes! i daresay, forgive me, that most of you will not really FEEL what he is saying because you've never experienced it firsthand. it's a simple concept but i also daresay young people in the western world are not exposed to these kinds of things anymore as i used to in my home country. political correctness distorts racism into something that can become evil. nationalistic jokes function to ridicule nationalism and racist ideas.
he has a point when talking about banter between different races and our attitudes towards political correctness, but he doesn't at all cover the subject of hostile, violent racism. Only a short clip though...
@TENNSUMITSUMA define racist...please...because in the west people who are realist are called racist...to say that Japanese are more polite than Russians is a fact...that Germans are more hardworking than Greeks is a fact...that blacks are more violent and prone to criminal behaviour than whites is a fact...I don't hate naybody based on the color of their skin but on their personality...and collective personality of different nations are different...their mentality is different; that is not hate
@doczg88 mentalities are in due course to environment, groupings such produced by segregations. One means of segregations was due to the geographical vast differences then upon entering one geographical region, those who claim that region of the world belongs to them as such everyone else who enters must accept there ideology, culture, interests, hobbies, tastes, skin colour, beliefs, and breed into them into they do not exist. Integration is a two process, culture the mess ups of the past
@doczg88 humans are all different people in one grouping dislike people within there own grouping of people. Tolerance is a way forward as well as economic acceptance. Then paradigm is in tolerating the intolerant. Better still to acceptance is through merger of cultures or trying someone elses culture bestowing that respect to those people... an on going process however still more is required. If you think greeks are hardworking become hardworking then there is no difference between you.
@d3r2000 I suffer trying to understand that...english is not my native language...I don't think you have to merge cultures to respect different cultures...part about Greeks I didn't undertand...
@doczg88 cultures we have were merged from the past anyway. Greek culture took from philisophers such as Indian, Roman, Persian and others. All the cultures today were merged. History repeats so cultures today will merge. If you stop them from merging it leads to war as what happened with Greeks and Roman as well as Greek and Persians. Integration is merger of cultures (food, art, clothes, tastes). The way you think is the same as others which is what increases racism.
"that blacks are more violent and prone to criminal behaviour than whites is a fact"
And How long did whites rape, beat, murder, and exploit blacks? Oh wait this is still going on world wide.... Your logic failed when you hit that sentence.
@84Drumcircle very short time...and Jews were misstreated a significantly longer period of time and yet they excell the grand grandchildern of their oppressors...blacks did much more harm to themselves than whites ever did...you are product of liberal environment...you think just because at this time some ideas prevail that they are true...you are finding excuses instead of dealing with reality...
Indian had their whole contenent taken from them. Yet I will probably never see any hold a high position in political office. So I guess they are not high acheivers either. Because the system in this country is fair and equal...
By the way, Jews helped Nazi's screw their own people over in many well documented cases. They even participated in the Slave trade.
If you have skype( it is free), I'd like to discuss the topic with you.
@84Drumcircle yes you are correct...Indians are not high achievers either...but Japanese, Chinese, Jews are and they hold high positions so your argument of white gentile America putting everybody else down is incorrect...I believe everybodys life is equally worth but nations as collection of individuals are different, in one nation you have more intelligent people in other country less...and this is the difference...
people who hate a group also rely on solidarity to organise lynchings - i am not convinced - anything can function as a mean of solidarity, it does not have to be abusive. hmm
@leslieright Well, on the solidarity of that group's members, perhaps; I think he was speaking of solidarity between people of different backgrounds. Having said that, Zizek appears to me a person who can 'handle' these jokes, where he knows that the joke is comrpised of a comedic hyperbole. Whereas the certain 'conservative/white' zeitgeist of America appears to 'say' that the racist/nationalist jokes are founded in reality/don't stray so far from it.
@leslieright I do hope that his tongue slipped on the 'progressive racism' sentiment; indeed, the rest of his story doesn't appear to reflect that intial point.
@ExEverest10 I think what he is getting at here, by saying "progressive racism" is to not "Stop doing the objective/concrete actions which we have decided are racist, and you must perform these actions which we have decided are anti-racist" (for example, don't tell jokes that involve racial stereotypes, have "awareness weeks" and so forth) which is the typical response. Instead, take the "racism" out of these actions, making them the same overt actions, but no longer racist in subtext.
@Squirlol I understand this, but the direct quote is 'how to fight racism; we should adopt racism', and I don't think that's a fitting description for what he speaks of afterwards. Adopting racism is different from understanding the difference between a joke, when the speaker doesn't necessarily claim the validity of any aspect of the joke, and a truthful statement, when the speaker claims the validity of every implied aspect of the statement.
@ExEverest10 Yeah I can tell you understood that part, and actually you make a fair point that "progressive racism" might not be a good name for it. I think, though, that maybe this is something which is like preaching at the choir, in the sense that, for anyone who already understands this distinction thoroughly, maybe it's not a good name. But for someone who thinks "Any joke involving races must be a racist thing to say" (many people) this definition works fine: "racism" without the "Racism".
@fightpollution This was a comment that he had made during the Q&A session; it had nothing to do with the actual lecture. So, no, it has not been taken out of context. It was an isolated comment, and the context is this: he had been asked about racism, and this was his response.
hylas79 3 days ago
taken out of context and argument
fightpollution 4 days ago
Zizek is an idiot.
PassengerUnlimited 1 week ago
That Montenegrin jokes so old, I haven't heard it since before Marshall Tito hit puberty. I'm half Serb, half Croat; & I'm constantly offending myself with my puerile politically incorrect humour. Which is better than beating myself up about it I suppose.
zivkovicable 1 week ago
I think I can agree with his sentiment in principle. However, where I disagree is that the kind of jokes and 'casual' non-pc discrimination he's talking about is only really ok and an expression of solidarity when there is no natural power imbalance. I think trouble arises when there is systematic oppression or power imbalance between the in-group and out-group members- it normalizes and tacitly supports the discrimination. This video is an ideal, for people who are smart enough to know better.
PoizenJam 2 weeks ago
Jokes serve solidarity only if the obsequiousness in the laugh (i.e., the renouncing response) is the sacrifice of self for larger radical praxis, rather than for the father (i.e., individualistic psychical {oedipal} survival strategy). Zizek typically joins both via bourgeois psychoanalytic Marxism, but here he omits his Lacan.
SteveShaw008 3 weeks ago
"I don't care about your stupid ethnic dances I want dirty jokes" lololololololol
jumpnjza2 1 month ago 5
logically he should abandon marxism completely as an ideology and declare it just another religion but then he'd lose the following and all the friends he's built up over the years
zilbiol 1 month ago
@zilbiol you don't understand the difference between marxism and totalitarianism.
churchjamespeter 3 weeks ago
Racist,or jokes about natonalism are ridiculous and boring/annoying .Things in life are relative,what is enjoying to the masses is not always enjoying to all.When are people just going to be people.
hapobelle 1 month ago
@hapobelle if you dont find his joke about how montenegrans masturbate funny there's something wrong with youe
zilbiol 1 month ago
@zilbiol
Zizek is a fat asshole - his grabbing of upper hose is making me want to slap him.I have heard these jokes so many times,they are boring like hell.Have you heard - when people of Marshall Islands burp you get a tsunami?!!!!!!!!
hapobelle 1 month ago
@hapobelle Maybe his joke wasn't that funny but he's right about this, over-reacting to small jokes, quips and remarks or honest criticism is an effect of racism, not a defense against racism, it says that you are too insecure and anxious to be relied on, which is what the racists want.
zilbiol 1 month ago
i was born in serbia and i also enjoy these dirty, nationalistic jokes! i daresay, forgive me, that most of you will not really FEEL what he is saying because you've never experienced it firsthand. it's a simple concept but i also daresay young people in the western world are not exposed to these kinds of things anymore as i used to in my home country. political correctness distorts racism into something that can become evil. nationalistic jokes function to ridicule nationalism and racist ideas.
sinprelic 2 months ago 4
"I don't care about your stupid ethnic dances, I want dirty jokes"
jeremyampt 2 months ago 2
he has a point when talking about banter between different races and our attitudes towards political correctness, but he doesn't at all cover the subject of hostile, violent racism. Only a short clip though...
AntonioRepiso 2 months ago
ŽÏŽĒK is a troll
LordTroll9000 2 months ago 3
Ricism functions as a way to induce solidarity? That's some thing new I've learned....
justacondom 3 months ago
Of course, if racism would be limited to jokes, Zizek might have a point.
MomoTheBellyDancer 3 months ago
In france we don't do what Zizek arsks us to do to; mock the french and export stereotypes as a means of communication and fratenity.
sqccccccccc 3 months ago
Slavoj Zizek: one part troll, one part genius!
icarus313 3 months ago 5
damn, it. what *does* happen when a circle meets a triangle?
fede2 3 months ago 4
ease up on the caffeine bro.
SeljakNaNetu 4 months ago 2
Comment removed
SeljakNaNetu 4 months ago
Matt & Trey would probably agree with that
Dummy257 4 months ago
Comment removed
CxsG90 5 months ago
heres a easier way....dont be racist
TENNSUMITSUMA 5 months ago
@TENNSUMITSUMA define racist...please...because in the west people who are realist are called racist...to say that Japanese are more polite than Russians is a fact...that Germans are more hardworking than Greeks is a fact...that blacks are more violent and prone to criminal behaviour than whites is a fact...I don't hate naybody based on the color of their skin but on their personality...and collective personality of different nations are different...their mentality is different; that is not hate
doczg88 4 months ago
@doczg88 mentalities are in due course to environment, groupings such produced by segregations. One means of segregations was due to the geographical vast differences then upon entering one geographical region, those who claim that region of the world belongs to them as such everyone else who enters must accept there ideology, culture, interests, hobbies, tastes, skin colour, beliefs, and breed into them into they do not exist. Integration is a two process, culture the mess ups of the past
d3r2000 4 months ago
@doczg88 humans are all different people in one grouping dislike people within there own grouping of people. Tolerance is a way forward as well as economic acceptance. Then paradigm is in tolerating the intolerant. Better still to acceptance is through merger of cultures or trying someone elses culture bestowing that respect to those people... an on going process however still more is required. If you think greeks are hardworking become hardworking then there is no difference between you.
d3r2000 4 months ago
@d3r2000 I suffer trying to understand that...english is not my native language...I don't think you have to merge cultures to respect different cultures...part about Greeks I didn't undertand...
doczg88 4 months ago
@doczg88 cultures we have were merged from the past anyway. Greek culture took from philisophers such as Indian, Roman, Persian and others. All the cultures today were merged. History repeats so cultures today will merge. If you stop them from merging it leads to war as what happened with Greeks and Roman as well as Greek and Persians. Integration is merger of cultures (food, art, clothes, tastes). The way you think is the same as others which is what increases racism.
d3r2000 3 months ago
@doczg88 One way go listen to other countries music, and try there food... go to international restraunts see what you like, eat international food.
d3r2000 3 months ago
@d3r2000 I do that...thanks for advice...but there is nothing better than mamma's kitchen :)
doczg88 3 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@doczg88
'define racist...please'
ok
noun a person who believes that a particular race is superior to another.
adjective having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another:
-oxford english dictionary
TENNSUMITSUMA 4 months ago
@doczg88
"that blacks are more violent and prone to criminal behaviour than whites is a fact"
And How long did whites rape, beat, murder, and exploit blacks? Oh wait this is still going on world wide.... Your logic failed when you hit that sentence.
84Drumcircle 4 months ago
@84Drumcircle very short time...and Jews were misstreated a significantly longer period of time and yet they excell the grand grandchildern of their oppressors...blacks did much more harm to themselves than whites ever did...you are product of liberal environment...you think just because at this time some ideas prevail that they are true...you are finding excuses instead of dealing with reality...
doczg88 4 months ago
@doczg88
Indian had their whole contenent taken from them. Yet I will probably never see any hold a high position in political office. So I guess they are not high acheivers either. Because the system in this country is fair and equal...
By the way, Jews helped Nazi's screw their own people over in many well documented cases. They even participated in the Slave trade.
If you have skype( it is free), I'd like to discuss the topic with you.
84Drumcircle 4 months ago
@84Drumcircle yes you are correct...Indians are not high achievers either...but Japanese, Chinese, Jews are and they hold high positions so your argument of white gentile America putting everybody else down is incorrect...I believe everybodys life is equally worth but nations as collection of individuals are different, in one nation you have more intelligent people in other country less...and this is the difference...
doczg88 3 months ago
@84Drumcircle blades_business_crew is my skype name...if I find time...I'm in a hurry...exames...so you know...kindest regards :)
doczg88 3 months ago
Not by wrath, but by laughter do we slay.
stochastic24 5 months ago 28
@stochastic24 Now thats just Pieztsche!
BleedingHeartedBaldr 4 months ago
@stochastic24 Arise! And let us slay the spirit of Gravity
ahorrell 3 months ago 2
Viewing some of the comments I think that some people don't understand what he is getting at .
My understaning is that he is saying that racism is a construct of social control to prevent us from enjoying things that do not harm others.
As an Englishman I am quite concious that the English are always putting them selves down - does that mean we are being racist towards ourselves?
Racism has become so taboo that even the mention of the word causes fear and an immediate censureship...
jagara1 6 months ago 5
If those jokes causes solidarity then why did Yugoslavia fall apart?
robmoney 7 months ago
@robmoney religion, conflict was between catholic and orthodox christians then orthodox christians vs muslims
zarkoasenov 6 months ago
@robmoney tito died.
L1ama 6 months ago
For completely different reasons that were well beyond anyone's power.
bjankuloski 5 months ago
this is so stupid
aarongreenb 7 months ago
@aarongreenb Slavoj is a genius.
quierover1234 7 months ago 38
@quierover1234 Keep telling yourself that, maybe one day you'll believe it.
KajiCarson 7 months ago
people who hate a group also rely on solidarity to organise lynchings - i am not convinced - anything can function as a mean of solidarity, it does not have to be abusive. hmm
leslieright 10 months ago
@leslieright Well, on the solidarity of that group's members, perhaps; I think he was speaking of solidarity between people of different backgrounds. Having said that, Zizek appears to me a person who can 'handle' these jokes, where he knows that the joke is comrpised of a comedic hyperbole. Whereas the certain 'conservative/white' zeitgeist of America appears to 'say' that the racist/nationalist jokes are founded in reality/don't stray so far from it.
ExEverest10 10 months ago
@leslieright I do hope that his tongue slipped on the 'progressive racism' sentiment; indeed, the rest of his story doesn't appear to reflect that intial point.
ExEverest10 10 months ago
@ExEverest10 I think what he is getting at here, by saying "progressive racism" is to not "Stop doing the objective/concrete actions which we have decided are racist, and you must perform these actions which we have decided are anti-racist" (for example, don't tell jokes that involve racial stereotypes, have "awareness weeks" and so forth) which is the typical response. Instead, take the "racism" out of these actions, making them the same overt actions, but no longer racist in subtext.
Squirlol 5 months ago
@Squirlol I understand this, but the direct quote is 'how to fight racism; we should adopt racism', and I don't think that's a fitting description for what he speaks of afterwards. Adopting racism is different from understanding the difference between a joke, when the speaker doesn't necessarily claim the validity of any aspect of the joke, and a truthful statement, when the speaker claims the validity of every implied aspect of the statement.
ExEverest10 5 months ago
@ExEverest10 Yeah I can tell you understood that part, and actually you make a fair point that "progressive racism" might not be a good name for it. I think, though, that maybe this is something which is like preaching at the choir, in the sense that, for anyone who already understands this distinction thoroughly, maybe it's not a good name. But for someone who thinks "Any joke involving races must be a racist thing to say" (many people) this definition works fine: "racism" without the "Racism".
Squirlol 5 months ago