Slavoj Zizek: The Delusion of Green Capitalism

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2011/04/04/Slavoj_Zizek_Catastrophic_But_Not_Serious

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek argues environmentally conscious consumers are desperate for simple tasks they can perform to alleviate their guilt, so they do things like purchase overpriced organic produce. Zizek also highlights Starbucks, which he suggests attracts customers by appealing to their sense of altruism.

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The Committee on Globalization and Social Change will launch with a special lecture by philosopher and critic Slavoj Zizek who will speak on "The Situation Is Catastrophic, but Not Serious." This alleged message of the Austrian military headquarters during WWI renders perfectly our attitude towards the ongoing crisis: we are aware of the looming (ecological, social) catastrophes, but we somehow don't take them seriously. What ideology sustains such an attitude?

The Committee on Globalization and Social Change (CGSC) is an interdisciplinary working group composed of a core group of CUNY faculty interested in reflecting on globalization as an analytic category for understanding social change.

Slavoj Zizek, born 1949 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Senior Researcher at Birkbeck College, University of London, is a Hegelian Philosopher, Lacanian psychoanalyst, Christian atheist, Communist political activist, and he thinks these four features are four aspects of one and the same Cause. His latest publications are: in philosophy The Parallax View, in psychoanalysis How to Read Lacan, in theology The Monstrosity of Christ, and in politics Living at the End Times.

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[svenso777]

its a nervous tick you fucking morons- you dont deserve to hear him speak if you can be so deaf to his wisdom.

[LudicLorenzo]

Typical internet idiocy does not belong in the discussion area for a video like this. Agree, disagree, whatever, but I am quite surprised to see how stupid some of the comments are.

[jenius124]

@kokopelli314 Get the fuck out of here.

[kokopelli314]

It's interesting that both top comments are self important rants.

[halflifeproductionz]

this guy is a communist moron!

[ecopsychoanalysis]

A good article on this the different way this effects people (from green activists to consumer addictions etc.), although a few years old now, is Rosemary Randall's 'A new climate for psychotherapy'. You can find it to download. We certainly need more complex psychoanalytic thinking on this topic as we are all caught up in it in different ways. Zizek and Morton's 'ecology without nature' is important in helping us to stop and think rather than get caught up in immediate unreflective action.

[ecopsychoanalysis]

Of course social practices affect (and exploit, I'm not being naive about this) and are affected by such dynamics, and the three ecologies (mental, social, natural) of Guattari co-effect each other in complex nonlinear ways. Zizek sometimes comes across as identifying 'the common view' on a problem, then arguing the exact opposite. This is an effective didactic tool, making us rethink something in a new way, but once this opening is made it doesnt always help to engage with its true complexity.

[ecopsychoanalysis]

I agree. Both co-exist, each plays off the other. In Kleinian psychoanalysis, they relate to the two basic psychological positions from the first year of life. The anxiety of the Paranoid-Schizoid position relates to the more apocalyptic threat of destruction, extinction, annihilation, dissolution in climate change. The Depressive position relates to feelings of guilt, mourning, and loss in ecology. We oscillate between them, PS - D, using a range of defences, from primitive to sophisticated.

[dezmodium]

@ecopsychoanalysis On the contrary, I think Zizek would agree that people do in fact state that, and possibly believe it, but that isn't the truth. Underneath their belief in their own helplessness, and the illusion of helplessness, lies a real responsibility where guilt lies. And this abstract guilt is what drives the "green" push. Think about it like this, companies aren't doing this for nothing. It appeals to people. They make money from it. If what you say is true, why?

[ecopsychoanalysis]

I think Zizek is wrong in the fundamental claim that we prefer to be guilty than acknowledge we are helpless. On the contrary, many more people are willing to agree 'we're fucked' (which Mary-Jayne Rust has called yet another defense), than to take responsibility. If its all over we dont have to worry about flying, driving, etc. Both defences (pseudo-activity and 'we're fucked') coexist. These are important issues I explore in detail in my book 'Psychoanalysis and Ecology at the Edge of Chaos'.

[sqccccccccc]

@svenso777 that's stupid you make us Zizek lovers look like a sect.

[sideroredis]

in general i like the was Zizek thinks but i think he is bracking different things: (over)consumerism is (over)consumerism, no matter if you buy ecological or non-ecological, it harms the environment. but if more and more are conscious about their consume (also when they use e.g. electricity, water), it does make at least a little difference.to make a greater one, forces have unit in order to pressure politicians. however, the revolution wave in 2011 begun with 1 person setting himself on fire.