Geoengineering & State Ecology
Žižek's description of Derrida's lingering reliance on a utopian horizon of justice despite claiming to deconstruct it.
The stories that teach it
the jokes and anecdotes he reaches for when he works in this idea, ranked by how many of its talks they turn up in; each card is one story, with every retelling on its page
Austrian-German telegram (catastrophic but not serious)
During WWI, Berlin telegraphed Vienna that the situation was 'serious but not catastrophic'; Vienna replied it was 'catastrophic but not serious', Žižek uses this as a formula for modern ideological denial of ecological and other crises.
Black Swan and the female-mission death myth
The film revives the ultra-male-chauvinist myth that women who fully identify with their vocation are destroyed, whereas men can hold a symbolic title and a private life simultaneously, a pattern Žižek also finds in Hoffmann's Tales and Kieślowski's Double Life of Véronique.
Mohammed becomes prophet through his wife Khadijah
When Mohammed first hears the archangel Gabriel he thinks it must be the Devil; his wife Khadijah convinces him it is the divine voice. Žižek reads this as showing that in Islam the woman is the ultimate ethical agent who orients the confused man.
Charity ad for the price of a cappuccino
TV charity ads showing a suffering child and offering relief 'for the price of a cappuccino' function ideologically by giving the viewer a cheap way to feel good, ensuring structural suffering continues.
Arab Spring and Sisi
In Egypt and Algeria, middle-class protesters demanded democracy, but when Muslim fundamentalists won elections, they begrudgingly accepted military takeovers (like Sisi) to stop them.
Martin Eden and symbolic success
Jack London's hero cannot understand why he is suddenly invited to dinner by Judge Blount after his books are published, when he is exactly the same person as before; his realization that his social identity resides entirely in others' minds kills his desire and leads to suicide.
Where it comes up 6
6 moments located in the transcripts, click a timestamp to play from there