Slavoj Zizek - First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Slavoj Zizek, one of the worlds most influential living philosophers, visits the RSA to discuss capitalism's flawed priorities.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• rsa
• the rsa
• royal society of arts
• Slavoj Zizek
• philosophy
• capitalism
• zizek
• economics
• society
• enlightenment
• first as tragedy then as farce

[tomitstube]

slavoj gets more cardio speaking than anyone on the planet, except for maybe a couple italians or french.

post modern capitalism cannot sustain itself without mass poverty and suffering, it will implode from isolationist greed. in america, 400 people own more wealth than the bottom half of the population. the top wants more. they can't stop, eventually there will be the revolts you see in middle eastern countries, capitalist greed will prove no different than totalitarian dictatorships.

[nobitte]

Agh Slavoj, you should be president of the world

[VVVandegere]

4 people took their petty charity and won the lottery.

[BoStevoD]

Obliterating both the liberal and conservative fantasies in a brisk thirty minutes.

[elsurexiste]

He lost one pound while giving this talk. :)

[featheon]

Stop blaming his mannerisms for your low comprehension.

[tomitstube]

@scorpiogama ~ it's only the beginning.

[scorpiogama]

yes, now with OWS you can see you were right!

[tomitstube]

@hrolvnir ~ we aren't interested in "playing the game". the game has been corrupted, money too easily buys politicians, those in power better be taking ows seriously because fundamental change is what the "system" needs. around 1979 in america, our economy was moved from a labor intensive economy to a finance economy. business instead of being concerned about their workforce and long term investment became interested in short term profits and the pockets of shareholders. bad idea...

[hrolvnir]

@tomitstube i couldnt agree more, though i would add that the best way to change the system is to play the game. the only way to make a difference anymore is to leverage huge amounts of cash; mainstream society just wont listen to anything else. the OWS protesters, for example, arent being taken seriously by anyone in a position of power, but a few words by warren buffet about raising the carried interest tax are still making waves. point being, *WE* need to get into finance and banking.

[tomitstube]

@hrolvnir ~ and there you have it, capitalism is not this inherent benevolence it's marketed as. the "free market' gave us slavery, is there anything more of an oxymoron? it's been sold by the rich to the poor, a lie, and the collapse of 2009 proved it. you deregulate the so called "free hand" of the market and you get corruption and theft on a grand scale. in america, the greatest middle class the world has ever seen was created by a very progressive tax system, it's now being dismantled.