frandroid

sabotabby recommended that people watch The Pervert's Guide to Cinema; it's a great and fun lecture. Now it is my turn to make some Žižek recommendations.

First of all, Žižek seems to have a Twitter account. Maybe it's not really him, but if it isn't, this person enjoys cataloguing his zingers. Great entertainment all around. Let's see how long this stays up.

Why cynics are wrong, written a week after Obama's victory, attempts to explain to real impact of Obama's victory, regardless of whether he brings in a real agenda for progressive politics, or he is Bush with a human face.

Obama’s victory belongs to this line; it is a sign of history in the triple Kantian sense ofsignum rememorativum, demonstrativum, prognosticum. That is, it is a sign in which the memory of the long past of slavery and the struggle for its abolition reverberates; an event which now demonstrates a change; a hope for future achievements. No wonder that Hegel, the last great German Idealist, shared Kant’s enthusiasm in his description of the impact of the French Revolution
[...]
The reason Obama’s victory generated such enthusiasm is not only the fact that, against all odds, it really happened, but that the possibility of such a thing to happen was demonstrated. The same goes for all great historical ruptures. Recall the fall of the Berlin Wall: Although we all knew about the rotten inefficiency of the Communist regimes, we somehow did not “really believe” that they will disintegrate. Like Kissinger, we were all too much victims of cynical pragmatism.

This attitude is best encapsulated by the French expression “je sais bien, mais quand meme” (I know very well that it can happen, but nonetheless… I cannot really accept that it can happen). This is why, although Obama’s victory was clearly predictable at least for the last two weeks before the election, his actual victory was still experienced as a shock. In some sense, the unthinkable did happen, something that we really didn’t believe could happen. (Note that there is also a tragic version of the unthinkable really taking place: holocaust, gulag… how can one really accept that something like that could happen?)

The true battle begins now, after the victory: The battle for what this victory will effectively mean, especially within the context of two other much more ominous signs of history: 9/11 and the financial meltdown. Nothing was decided by Obama’s victory, but his victory widens our freedom and thereby the scope of our decisions. But regardless of whether we succeed or fail, Obama’s victory will remain a sign of hope in our otherwise dark times, a sign that the last word does not belong to “realist” cynics, be they from the Left or the Right.

Another article he wrote is Bring me my Philips Mental Jacket -
The philosopher welcomes the prospect of biogenetic intervention. It is through and through a psychoanalytical take on genetic manipulation, but it's interesting nonetheless...