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Yes, this particular article was bad - but Zizek’s recent interview with Radio Free Europe was worse. I disagree with your assertion that he is a comrade - Zizek is a mouthpiece for the global capitalist core, giving permission to people who consider themselves leftist to agree with everything that the western imperial machine wants them to agree with while continuing the delusion that they are good little communists while doing so.
He’s :funny-clown-hammer: with a slightly more dignified academic pedigree.
Zizek’s absolutely wrong on Ukraine, and another host of topics. Where I will counter his value is that he actively held open the door for pursuit of other leftist thought; his willingness to engage with Stalin, Lenin, Mao as legitimate actors was a unique good no one else with his platform offered. As I mentioned, it opened up the door to my own radicalization. This defense is certainly not enough to treat him seriously, of course.
That said I am not aware of any mass movement of people pursuing Zizek thought at this point though. Perhaps I’m in a bubble, but does anyone actually care about what he has to say unless it’s about hotdogs or movies?
there were bouts of the far right in brazil using zizek’s words as totems, but as far as i can tell nothing much more than that. that said, though i’m not a big reader of zizek i’d hope that his words were distorted in that radio free europe interview. because otherwise all i see from down here is european chauvinism. i don’t deny your points in the OP either, of course. there is such a thing as dumb criticism too.
Not a lot of people read Zizek, I think, because his books are like this: [joke] [joke] [joke] [obscure Lacanian interlude] [joke] [joke] [obscure Lacanian interlude]…
giving permission to people who consider themselves leftist to agree with everything that the western imperial machine wants them to agree with
Who actually does this, though? How many people who are even tangentially progressive run around endorsing every damned thing Western capitalists want? Where is the Elon Musk / Slavoj Zizek fan club intersection? I don’t really see it.
This has strawman written all over it. When Zizek has a bad take, CNN and The Economist might mainline him for the sake of telling weird psycho liberals that “Even this European Racoon agrees with Joe Biden”, but I don’t see a bunch of DSA members along for the ride.
