YouSaid · the spoken record

Slavoj Žižek

lines on the record: 82
first: 2020-01-08
most recent: 2020-01-08
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Because you know, I remember that Singapore port is even at some point it was the busiest port in the world and so on, which means they are kind of a nodal point for the countries around them and so on. I doubt second thing, maybe I have here too much liberal sensitivity, but nonetheless, you know, it's a kind of the way I would define Singapore. You may disagree is fascism with a human face. A very human face is consensual and so on. But there are so strict limits even at the everyday ridiculous level. For example, I was there with my son who wanted some chewing gum. We went to a store and they laughed at me. Are you crazy? You have to go to pharmacy. We went to a pharmacy. They said, okay, where do you have doctor's prescription? I said, no, I'm...”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Marxist, but isn't it that Singapore nonetheless? Enjoys its role as structural exception. I don't think you can expand Singapore to Indonesia already with Malaysia there are problems and so on and so on”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Plus itself is a subjective position. You can be a plus in the sense of your law at a distance doubting. And I think this is feminine position at it stronger. I will go to absolutely everyday level. That's why the most provocative woman's answer is, why do you love me? Because there is no answer to this question. The moment you answer it, it's not true love by definition. If I tell you why I love you, then it becomes matter of, you know, so what I'm saying is that I just try to complicate things.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So I think we can rape women. We don't need consents. They totally misread me on the opposite. I just claim consent in itself is good, better than nothing. But it doesn't solve the problem. There is so much pressure, violence, which can survive the form of consent. Even if there is a formal consent, sexual exploitation can go on and so on and so on. My problem with LGBT plus, as if I'm attacking him, no, the problem I see there, I wonder if you agree, is this one. I have a problem with identity politics. The problem is that the idea of predominant, there are many LGBT plus who are extremely good theorists, but the predominant view is the one of this one. I simplify it. There is some kind of multiplicity of gender position.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“but relatively secular. This is what bothers me. Second problem, you will again say I'm conservative here. Fuck it. I don't care. The problem with political correctness is for me that questions which are questions of not manners in a superficial sense, but of customs, here I am, as you know, a Hegelian. Hegel always emphasized the basis that whole society together are unwritten rules, customs, and so on. Political correctness tries too much to legalize it. You are allowed to call this name. For example, let me give you a provocative example. You know it, to provoke you. You have to state it on a selfie sign before mutual agreement. And they say, oh,”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“turn this into a wonderful performance, especially clown cells and so on. It's a wonderful way to survive a pretty terrifying predicament. And I don't buy their automatically neo-fascist and so on. Concerning feminism and my reproach to Me Too is not there too radical and so on. But it's a upper middle class fake. American feminism should first do, I hope we agree here, a little bit of a good old-fashioned Stalinist, you will say again nostalgia, self-criticism. You know, there are so many things of American feminism. Do you know, for example, they supported American invasion of Iraq that it will help women? Well, we know today that the situation of women today in Iraq is much worse than under Saddam. Saddam was a brutal despot.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Don't count on that too much because I still think that the crisis will hit us. I see signs. Here comes my pessimism. I think that the situation today with new right-wing blah, blah, blah. And here, as we already talked about it, I'm very open, for example, do they exist here? No. We talked about it so-called incelsibaters. Usually they decryit us the worst women hating fascists. No, they do something, I think. almost tragic. They try to turn their failure and already this is politically incorrect to state today. You cannot address a woman almost it's prohibited saying she is beautiful you cannot say to a man you are non-attractive enough you cannot get any woman but that's their experience and I admire how without any immanent violence they”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You are my friend, I like you. So when we commonly take over. Nonetheless, because you are objectively guilty, you go to Gulag. But as a special favor to you, you know what you got on better days in Gulag, on Shag Day, some kind of disgusting soup in trails and hats, half-rotten fishes and potatoes.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“My answer to this is you're a very simple one. My answer to this is that's why politically correct leftists are doing all possible to get Trump re-elected, if you ask me. A little bit more years on this and we will be where we are. But let me add as a sign of friendship to you another bad taste humor about you.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And you're always right. Now I will ask you this is my big argument against happiness. Do you agree if you are now like my stasi observer you have your list of? You remember when I asked”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That was not my point, but one of those guys, when reproached with the fact that capitalism is unjust, you work harshly, you fail, your neighbor was safe. He said, but that's why capitalism works. Because he said your pride survives intact. Let's say we are two guys. We live in a just society. And if there is no lack and injustice, this means if you are richer than me, I have to admit that I'm more stupid than you. But capitalist injustice, it's a very elegant argument.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I believe, and when I talk about communism and so on, my God, I've written texts on it and now I go on into it into, for me, communism is just, as I emphasize, the name of a problem is not a solution. You know, now I will say something that will shock you. I'm well aware of some of my communist friends admitted that even if we imagine something similar to communism, the mega problem will be envy and so on. And this is who is one of the great guys, my God, the one who conducted Chile according to leftist mythology, not Pinochet, the economist, free market, who advised Pinochet accordingly. No, no, no, no. The big guy. I think...”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Concrete problems. I'm not waiting for a big revolution. I just am, now this may surprise you for somebody who may sound so bombastic, pretenses like me. You know, strange as it will sound, but I don't know everything. I'm immediately thinking in literal terms what to do so many factors. I don't know enough. I like this totally concrete empirical problems. I like paradoxes. For example, would you agree very briefly? Maybe you found this in one of my books. I'm not quoting this as an argument for anti-capitalism. I don't know that. But there are some group experiments which fascinate me, which proves that you cannot reduce some forms of solidarity to money. A Jewish friend from Eastern Told me this. They had a kindergarten there and”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I will tell you why not this. This may surprise you, the answer. First, you know, I tremendous, this was the point, you know, when in my short speech, when I said I despise for me the model of catastrophe today, my friends, they cried, we were there, one million people, we were all crying, wonderful. I say F off. What interests me? I hope we agree here is what happens two months later. I'm all for this pragmatic...”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“We don't know what more communism, you know why. People idiots tell me, not you. Why don't you call it socialism? Everybody is a socialist. They will Gates is a socialist and so on. It's meaningless. Socialism basically means today you care for society. Hitler cared for society. I don't care. You know, I just want to signal that, as you nicely said now, something a little bit more radical will be needed. That's all I'm saying.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, but please ask me that question How will we deal with ecology? You really think that with market a little bit of that it can be dealt”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Disappearance of East European communism than any of you in this room. I was for five years unemployed. I had to survive through parents and so on and so on. So I was there when it was needed and so on. And I'm even a little bit proud to say that the role I played at that time is that when you said we have problems, right-wing politicians, yes, we also do it, but Slovenia is the only post-Yugoslav country where nationalists never took over. That with it. I was at that time it will shock you, member of a party called Liberal Democratic Party. And we did it. But you know what? For me, again, I return to that.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Let's go step by step. First hand, my criticism of him was very specific. And before he got involved into what he got involved to, I didn't like the game he played, for example. I remember his stats from 30 years ago, 40 before, where he said in Austria everything is commodified. You go to a store.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“This horrible near future, it doesn't raise the crucial question. But she's still too fascinated by our permissive societies and so on and so on. You know.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“But the lesson I learned there, I don't care if you call it nostalgia, the lesson I, and I will tell you where I see real nostalgia today. The lesson for me is how an ideology can function not only even if you don't believe in it, but it is prohibited to believe in it. This was the beautiful paradox of ex-Yugoslavia. I had two friends who worked in the Central Committee of the Slovene Party. They lost their job, you know why? Because they were stupid and took the ruling ideology too seriously. But you know who are for me changed the topic but along the same line, the true nostalgics today. That's why I don't like the novel. This will again hurt some of you. Margaret Edwood handmade tale. This is for me true nostalgia. It's what Frederick Lamston called nostalgia for the present. It pains.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And after I finish with yours. So all these paradoxes, what fascinates me about ideology, and this is where communism interests me, is how, this is why Yugoslavia, which was a relatively liberal communism, interests me, do you know that in Yugoslavia, it wasn't last we have our own ideology, self-management socialism? I mean this literally. Slovenia was a small country. We knew everybody else, nomenclatura.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“About life in the army. I served in the mid 70s in Yugoslav army. But you know, like, it was a nightmare, I know. But what fascinated me was I never did I learn so much about ideology and my politically correct friend. For example, I wonder if some of you know, you don't have here anymore military service in Norway. Basically, on the one hand, Yugoslav army was, as all armies probably, absolutely homophobic. You were gay, you were beaten by fellow soldiers every night discreetly before being thrown out. But at the same time, crucial, absolutely crucial. The entire life was totally penetrated by homosexual innuendos and so on. In my unit, we didn't say good morning. We say I'll smoke your prick.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“fascism, Stalinism are not simply regressions to some dark past. They are deployment of a certain totalitarian whatever we call them potentials in the project of modernity itself. Okay, but isn't Stalinism a much more traumatic example of this than fascism? With fascism, things are relatively simple, I think. It's a model of conservative revolution and so on and so on. But Bolshevism, which tried to do a radical emancipation and it turned into a traumatic, I think even today we don't have a good theory of Stalinism. That's what bothers me. Not any return to it. I will give you as a proof that it's not in this sense nostalgia. I will give you another example. I have such a memory. I always tell my friend.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Behind this, what you call nostalgia is for me nonetheless, it's much more traumatic if you want it. I am the first to admit, and that's my maybe we share the opinion here, that's my criticism of one of the criticism of Frankfurt School. As I always repeat, look at Habermas. At his work, he began publishing in early 50s. Read all his work. And I don't think you will even guess from his published text that there is something like communism and East Germany. Frankfurt School, in a strange way almost totally, I know there is Marcuse's book, Soviet Marxism, but it's very specific. And you know what makes it so strange? The central thesis of late Frankfurt School is dialectic of enlightenment. Horrors of 20th century.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, let's go on. What I don't want to lose your time, but what really fascinates me in Stalinism is how if you look at it closely, how fascinated Stalinism was by America. For example, do you know that that's why I like Soviet cinemas, that the absolute model of Soviet cinema was Hollywood? They had desperate plans in the 30s to build on their own version of Hollywood, how they imitated Hollywood and so on and so on. I claim that even explicitly when Stalin was asked around 1930, his definition of a Bolshevik, he said, the one which combines Russian dedication to a sacred cross with American pragmatism, efficiency, and so on and so on, but you”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Okay, my counter question is then that obviously what I read today around are nonetheless I'm more of a pessimist. You see, we are coming back to this basic dilemma.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“I even know it may surprise you the exact data I was shown by a friend in suburb of Shanghai. Already clinics, no, no, no. Okay, sorry, I will not lose too much time. This will interest you. I met years ago in Frankfurt Book Fair, one high guy from Chinese Academy of Sciences, and he gave me printed in English the short program, programmatic note. And it says it shocked me, literally. The goal of biogenetic in China is to regulate physical and psychic health of the Chinese nation. They are directly doing it. What I only don't like is don't just evoke China as this ultimate horror we are basically doing the same, I claim.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“On indefinitely like digital control and so on things are serious there, the extent to which we are manipulated already and so on. Ecology, immigration. And did you notice I am not a simple humanitarian there? I just don't share this simple optimism open on hearts and what? All the poor will move to Europe and whatever. So how very simple question I will try to cut myself short. These three domains that I outlined, I think, at least in the long term, they need a more radical, something will have to happen. Probably you don't agree. Do you see them as serious threats? Are you still a Fukuyamaist in the sense of we just make a system function a little bit better? I'm skeptical there.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“was obsessed by Walkster and dying for it. I remember the cover of Spiegel, they demonstrated exactly with statistics that 40-50 years after that time today, Europe will be without forests and sad to tell you, but according to some statistics, today there are more forests in the world than at any point in the last hundred years. So I'm over aware of this fascination of catastrophe, but nonetheless, I think and you can deny it, I will not, when we communists take over, you will go to Gulag, but for different reasons. You know why I'm glad to talk with him? You know, in today's politically correct climate, in typical Western academic institutions, you cannot talk like that, you know? No, but seriously. But I nonetheless see these threats and I could go.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“No, but okay, no, can I briefly answer you very honestly? I see all your points. I agree with them, but my point is this one nonetheless, and now I want to ask you, if I may, a question. Okay, I know we exaggerate and I'm well aware of, I emphasize it, do you remember how easy it is to fall into this fascination by catastrophic prospect? Do you remember, no, you are not old enough? I am, some of you must. Around 30, 40 years ago, most of Europe, especially Germany,”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“You're already asking me a question. Okay. Yes, your question. Okay, okay, okay. No, no, no. First, but if you compare what China 50 years ago, the difference is still absolutely shocking. Look at Shanghai, Beijing today, and so on. Second point, you know, forget about per capita. Compare prices and so on, and you will see that today's China. That today's standard of living of middle classes, at least in the developed part, you know, numbers at this level don't tell a lot, but at one point I agree with you that this in the long term, this, whatever we call it, Chinese authoritarian capitalism or whatever we call it will not work, I think.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Before you begin, one thing, let me express my admiration for him. I am a strange communist like Marx, who said that one can learn more from a conservative like Balzac than from all progressives about economy. I think that our only true partners, the true leftists today, are modest, intelligent, honest skeptics, conservatives. This morning he provided the best, I'm grateful for it, the best definition of myself. He told me that he considers me a moderate conservative communist. My gratitude to you.”
2020-01-08 · Conversations with Tyler · Slavoj Žižek on His Stubborn Attachment to Communism · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source