“The problem with Hitler was not that he was too violent, but that he was not violent enough—in the right way.”
That’s a quote, an actual quote, from the Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. As is the title. No, he isn’t a nazi.
Žižek’s made a career of what seems on the surface to be sensationalist contrarianism, delivering shocking tirades about orange juice and late-stage capitalism and Hollywood movies. Often called a Marxist, Žižek refuses to be pinned down by a particular school of thought. But he’s pretty critical of the Western capitalist model.
In his landmark debate on communism with Jordan Peterson, one which was heralded as ‘the debate of the century’, Žižek shocked an eager crowd, and a terse Peterson, by instantly dropping his anticipated ‘defence’ of communism. He agreed that it doesn’t work, that it isn’t defensible, and intended to defend it anyway. Though the debate was, consequently, underwhelming, as Žižek agreed with most of the points that Peterson thought would be contentious and areas of conflict, it’s nonetheless easy to understand why he’s often described as a ‘walking contradiction. ’
Žižek doesn’t like ideology. Perhaps the least controversial position you could assign to him, and he’d still probably take issue with it. What is certain,
however, is that Žižek feels that ideology in our present society has taken on a kind of Godhead, that we’re far too reliant on ideology, and that this has curtailed our free-thinking.
Žižek isn’t an idiot. He knows that many of his positions are contradictory. He knows it’s impossible to agree with Žižek on everything. And that’s the entire point, because the thing he detests most of all is the blanket subscription that the masses give to a particular mode of thinking, a perspective. You can’t be a Žižekian (Žižekist?), because to be a Žižekian would be to step on your own toes. By being a walking contradiction, Žižek forces you to engage with him on his ideas, to think the issues through for yourself, rather than defaulting to agreement. You have to challenge Žižek, agreeing with him on some topics and failing to understand his point on others, but you can’t simply be Žižek.
It’s easy to see how this ideological dominance has diffused into our everyday lives. We think very little, collectively, on the big issues. We say that, well, I guess I haven’t really thought about animal rights or abortion, but i’m a Democrat, so I just think what the Democrats think. I’m a capitalist, so I haven’t the faintest idea what options-stock pricing is, but whatever it is, I agree with Warren Buffet. If it’s even an issue. We turn away from the big ideas. The hard questions. We couch ourselves in our prepackaged, ready-made ideological subscriptions.
We are all basically evil, egotistical, disgusting. Take torture, for instance. I am a realist. If I had a daughter and someone kidnapped her, and I found a friend of the kidnapper, I cannot say I wouldn’t torture that guy.
Žižek isn’t interested in political correctness or saying the right thing. He can’t think of a worse fate than being CBS News’ resident philosopher, trotted out to give the station some intellectual credibility by proclaiming whatever particular left or right-wing stance they’re after, padding it with a couple of obscure references to Nietzche, and mumbling ponderously while everyone applauds themselves.
Because of this, Žižek is rarely invited on mainstream media, shocking as that is. Although his is almost guaranteed to be offensive, perhaps we ought to indulge him more. Hear the crazy, arm-waving, slur-spewing self-confessed monster out. Because buried deep (deeeeep) underneath the pessimism, the cynicism and coldness, Žižek cares about us not losing our humanity. When he says ‘humanity is OK, but 99% of people are idiots’, pay no attention. Žižek is interested, maybe even fond, of the human spirit. Of protecting our ability to think for ourselves, the one thing we’ve always cited as the difference between the Man and the Beast.
Leave a comment