The Liberal Blackmail & "John Oliver Leftism"
The new hegemonic political position that presents the status quo of global capitalism as neutral and socially liberal, against which only right-wing populism appears as the only alternative, erasing a more radical left.
In his words 9
“I don't want to open our heart, the problem is to open our doors to get them in to live. I hate this moralistic pressure which serves just to retain our beautiful soul.”1:27:25 Marx and Lacan: Surplus-Enjoyment, Surplus-Value, Surplus-Knowledge · beautiful soul vs. real political action on refugees
“Evil is also the gaze which sees evil everywhere around itself.”12:07 The Spirit of Distrust · reflexivity of evil / beautiful soul
“the paradox of political power is that when you want to seduce the opponent by way of saying okay let's meet halfway blah blah blah that's not the way to do if you start with this opponent will necessarily experience this as a weakness”3:31 Reflections on Violence · compromise registers as weakness
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
V for Vendetta morning after
In the final scene of V for Vendetta thousands of unarmed Londoners march on parliament and the people take over; Žižek says he would sell his mother into slavery to see Part 2, what happens the day after the victory.
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.
Native Americans prefer 'Indians'
A Native American man in Missoula, Montana told Žižek he prefers 'Indian' over 'Native American' because 'at least that is a monument to white man's stupidity', and proceeded to demolish the left-liberal image of indigenous people as ecologically holistic, saying they burned m…
Himmler and the Bhagavad Gita
Himmler kept the Bhagavad Gita on him as the answer to how to murder Jews without becoming beasts, 'acting through a distance', doing one's duty detached from the deed.
Brassed Off coffee invitation
A woman invites a man up for coffee; he says he doesn't like coffee; she says she has none, the double withdrawal of coffee produces erotic meaning far more charged than a direct proposition.
Trump's obscenity as proof of sincerity
Trump's voters read his lying and obscenity not as disqualifying but as evidence that he speaks spontaneously and sincerely, unlike prepared political professionals, the more obscene, the more authentic.
Where it comes up 61
73 moments located in the transcripts, click a timestamp to play from there