This set of words references an observation made by Slavoj Zizek regarding ideology, specifically the 'everyday texture of our lives; everyday ideology'. By way of illustrating the idea that ideology is the 'complicated network of ethical, political [and] social prejudices which, even if we are unaware of them, still determines the way we function' he reminds us of Donald Rumsfeld comment when asked about Iraqi WMD's. Zizek draws our attention to a conspicuous omission in Rumsfeld 'theory of knowledge' that is a key expression of what ideology is, or rather how it works; the unknown know...
This jocular observation helped give me a bit of framework to express my own observation that people rarely are unaware of how fucked up 'things' and 'the world' are. For example, if you tell anyone that 'the top 1% of the earth's population earns more than the lower 60%' , that 'development of nuclear weapons only increases the likelihood of nuclear destruction' or that 'serious alternatives to fossil fuels need to be found to ensure a sustainable and peaceful world for future generations' it will come as no surprise to them.
But, given that this broad understanding of the major events and crises facing humanity today, it is difficult to reconcile to lack of action amongst folk unless one realizes that the great press of ideology renders invisible the true strength of mass action and solidarity, which are the only ways in which progressive social change has ever been realized.
Zizek lecture @ google -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x0eyNkNpL0 -- Unknown known bit is about 4 minutes in...
And in case you missed it... Big Don, talking bollocks... www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiPe1OiKQuk
lyrics
Rumsfeld's Fourth Unspoken Epistemological Insight.
No!!! Do I really have to talk you through all this again?
Not Again!!!
And while it might suit you to not understand, your fucking foolishness ain't foolin' no motherfucker!
So we'll be burned by the hell-fires we've made and claim we didn't know that fire burns!
Ride! It's just fuckin' ride -- so say the saviours and seers!
But behind closed doors and in secret room our 'leaders' build up pyres and stoke the memory holes!
They know! They just fuckin' know that if we ever wake up from this trance...
They'll be burned on the hell-fires they've made and then they'll plainly know that fire burns...
In an honest world he'd say we didn't know that fire burns...
You said you didn't know but you know...
You said you didn't know but you know you know...
Obey for pay; spend yourself while meaning nothing at the same time!
Don't make, just take! Buy new, eat more, think less: satisfied!
Win, don't lose; run a race that you never even entered!
It's real, it's all -- Fuck up now and you motherfucking go down!!!
Everyone knows that you are the greatest source of revolution in the fucking world!
Trust yourself what you know,
Armed, informed, undeceived
Lust for peace, unified!
We can and will change everything even if we don't live to see those days!
We are not safe!
credits
from MOTM 2010 Demo, released 18 October 2010
Luke - Battery
Ron - Guitars
Jim - Guitars
T'ex - Bass
Bing - Voice
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10:08
Slavoj Žižek, Łódź, 9.05.2011 (3)by KlubKPLodz1,443 views
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