Lacan 1969-70: shame and the obscene master
anecdote · personal/autobiographical ·
retold in 4 talks
In his 1969-70 seminar responding to May '68, Lacan warned that the protesters' demand for liberation was missing a little shame, and they would therefore get a new master more obscene than themselves, exactly what has arrived with Trump.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 3
“Lacan said something wonderful... they are missing a little bit of shame. The way they want liberation, they will get a new master which will be more obscene than themselves.”
“A good psychoanalyst answer is always: don't look at me what I'm doing, look at what I'm saying. The truth is there.”
“when you met laccon in private, having dinner with him, going somewhere, was that there was nothing behind. he was exactly the same.”
What it carries
one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)
Its cast and sources
populated by
Frauke Petry1Robert F. Kennedy Jr.1Kurt Vonnegut1George Lucas1H. G. Wells1Jill Stein1Milan Kučan1Paul Wolfowitz1
alongside works
Every retelling 3
In his 1969-70 seminar responding to May '68, Lacan warned that the protesters' demand for liberation was missing a little shame, and they would therefore get a new master more obscene than themselves, exactly what has arrived with Trump., illustrating shame,repressive desublimation,libidinal economy
When accused of hypocrisy between theory and practice, Lacan replied: 'A good psychoanalyst always answers: don't look at me what I'm doing, look at what I'm saying. The truth is there.', illustrating theory versus practice,truth in speech not action,Žižek's defence of his politics
A friend who knew Lacan told Žižek that in private, Lacan was exactly the same artificial, performative, role-playing creature as in public, there was nothing behind the mask. Žižek calls this 'absolute contradiction', the authentic form of subjectivity., illustrating subjectivity,mask and authenticity,sincere hypocrisy