Permanently Deleted
The mention of Chomsky reminds me that, no matter how much he talks on imperialism or manufactured consent, every 4 years the MSM drag him into the spotlight so he can say “vote for the Democrats because the Republicans are mean” because he’s still a stooge after all this time.
Zizek is also supportive of the US proxy war in Ukraine , and has said that we should be sending Ukraine more weapons. Marxists may disagree about whether we should support Russia, but we are united in opposing NATO.
And though this article might be flawed, I have to wonder what a debate between Zizek and an actual communist (like the article’s author) would look like. It’s easy enough to body a fucking dork like Jordan Peterson—anyone reading this could tear him a new one—but how would Zizek’s blubbering jokes and obscure Lacanian terminology fare against someone talking about imperialism? Zizek himself said, at that debate, that he isn’t a Marxist—he’s a Hegelian, which is an extremely complex way of saying that you think fundamental change is impossible (because what we really want is to fuck our mothers, which society prevents us from doing).
The article is also correct that Zizek was actively involved in dismantling Yugoslavia, which is truly unforgivable.
And though this article might be flawed, I have to wonder what a debate between Zizek and an actual communist (like the article’s author) would look like.
I need to be very clear here; anyone whose first instincts are to artificially declare anyone on the left a Nazi is someone we should be running from. This is a liberal vector of attack that only results in the “actually they were national socialists” discourse AIPAC uses. There’s also the fact that there are claims that the author plagiarized the work entirely, stealing directly from other communist projects for personal or secretarian gain.
I am not arguing against the idea that Zizek should face true communist scrutiny, but if this level of intellectual dishonesty is the best we can muster we’ll pay for it in the long term.
I think many people make the mistake of thinking that any person (theorist, philosopher, activist etc.) must have the correct takes all the time. It is entirely possible for someone to contribute significantly in theory (for example, I still think the Sublime Object of Ideology was conceptually groundbreaking in the 1990s, nowadays the concept has been normalized among the left but back then, during an era of post-Soviet collapse and when it seemed as though Western liberal capitalism had prevailed, it was something else entirely) but still have the other parts (especially as a non-specialist) wrong.
Can’t be repeated enough. Its very exhausting to see an entire body of work tossed on the bonfire because someone, particularly late in life, had a bad opinion. Whether you’re talking about Kanye West or Slavoj Žižek, you can’t lose the sight of the forest by fixating on every individual tree.
Also worth remembering that not everything is a black-and-white issue. Zizek’s got family and friends in Eastern Europe. Dude has a very real vested personal interest in the Ukraine War not spilling out over the country’s borders. Modern Russia isn’t exactly a paragon of virtue. So while the best take tends to “End the war at any cost, because this pissing contest isn’t worth the calamity it brings” (:china:), its tiresome to harangue a guy for saying what amounts to “I hope the Americans form a bullwark against this shit before my family home gets hit with the backside of a cruise missile”.
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.
Great read, thanks!
I haven’t looked into this, so take it for what it’s worth, but I saw this tweet from a person I believe is a Maoist or Ultra claiming the author of the counterpunch piece copied and plagiarized a talk her group gave.
Ah the old myth that Brace is an heir to the fortune of the publicly-traded Belden corp. I can’t explain without doxxing myself but I can say with absolute, 100% certainty that this is completely made up. Someone saw there was a company named “Belden” and then started a rumor.
Five minutes of listening to Brace makes it pretty clear he’s a guy who has gone through some hard times. Wish him well, even if I’m not a listener.
The idea that he’s some heir who gave it all up to live as a late-success podcaster only to be undone by forgetting to change his last name is a really good bit tho.
I really appreciate you putting this together, great post and adds a lot of needed context.
These kind of articles really hit home for me that I’ve already done so many liberal things in my life and have so many liberal personal connections that I could never be a prominent leftist figure. Just too easy to smear I think
Oh dear lord I hope I never become famous. I just want to be able to exist and contribute to society without being fucked over.
