Ideological Cynicism & Fetishist Disavowal
Following Sloterdijk, Žižek argues the dominant form of ideology today is not naive belief but cynical distance: 'we know very well what we are doing, but we are still doing it'.
In his words 40
“je sais bien mais quand même — I know very well but… is crucial in everyday ideology. I don't think people are stupid.”40:24 Object a and the Function of Ideology · fetishist disavowal / cynical belief
“What if on the contrary such a blindness, such a violent gesture of exclusion, of refusing to see, such a disavowal of reality... is an innermost constituent of every ethical stance?”22:35 Year of Distraction · fetishist disavowal as condition of ethics
“Je sais bien, mais quand même — I know very well but. Like I know we are approaching a war, but wait a minute, it cannot really happen.”28:26 The Guardian Live Event · fetishist disavowal applied to approaching war
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
Niels Bohr's horseshoe
Niels Bohr had a horseshoe on his country-house door; when a scientist friend asked why a scientist would keep a superstitious charm, Bohr answered 'I was told it works even if you don't believe in it', Žižek's model for ideology today.
coffee without cream / coffee without milk
A customer orders coffee without cream; the waiter says they have no cream but can offer coffee without milk. Even though the result is identical, the absent supplement matters, Hegelian negativity in a joke.
Starbucks ethical consumerism
Buying a Starbucks cappuccino is sold as supporting Guatemalan organic farmers and saving the planet; the owner appeared like Anthony Giddens calling Starbucks an ersatz place of collective experience. The sin of consumerism and its redemption are packaged together in the same…
Santa Claus Belief
Parents deny believing in Santa while buying presents; children deny believing while pretending so as not to disappoint parents. No one believes in the first person yet the ritual functions perfectly.
Daisetz Suzuki's Knife
Žižek quotes Zen master D.T. Suzuki, who justified killing in war by claiming enlightenment allows one to see the 'dancing knife' as a phenomenon without substantial reality, thus bypassing ethical guilt.
Book of Job as first critique of ideology
Job's theological friends tell him his suffering has a deeper meaning; Jehovah appears and says Job was right, the suffering has no meaning. Chesterton reads God's 'where were you when I created monsters' speech not as arrogance but as: look, the whole world is a mess, you're …
Where it comes up 185
262 moments located in the transcripts, click a timestamp to play from there