Mao's flatulence metaphor at Lushan conference

As told 5

“He said, 'If you want to shit, shit. If you feel a need to fart, fart. You will feel better. That's how we should do our critique here.'”
~1:07:20 Re-Reading the Revolution2017-10-06 · 2:06:46

“'It's like when you need to shit, shit, it will make you feel better. When you have wind in you, fart, do it.' ...Isn't it a little bit weird where you are talking about self-criticism for causing the death of millions?”
~32:45 Is Sexuality Compatible with Human Rights? with Jean-Claude Milner2018-06-27 · 2:01:41

“if you have to shit shit if you have to fart fart you will feel much better for it”
1:07:57 Slavoj Zizek lecture Totality or Assemblage 012022-02-23 · 1:31:00

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)

contents · one story, 3 jobsuses

meta-rules ×1 moral masochism ×1 obscene master ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Jean-Luc Mélenchon2 Jarosław Kaczyński4 Samuel Goldwyn3 Roger Conover1 Andrey Vyshinsky1 Polybius1 Lin Biao1 Georgi Dimitrov1

alongside works

Relire la Révolution2 Žižek's book on ontology, sexuality, and political economy1 Žižek's book on Lenin and the Russian Revolution1 Short Circuits series (MIT Press)1 Applebaum's book on the Gulag1 Les Paysans1 For the Love of Language1 How Will Capitalism End?1

Told together with

29% Kaczyński's 'teraz kurwa my' 2 shared talks 19% Goldwyn's New Clichés memo 3 shared talks 10% Gulag birthday telegram to Stalin 2 shared talks 9% Stalin joins the applause 2 shared talks

Every retelling 5

~1:07:20 Re-Reading the Revolution2017-10-06 · 2:06:46

At the 1959 Lushan conference, after the Great Leap Forward disaster, Mao's self-criticism concluded with the metaphor that admitting guilt is like defecating or farting, 'if you feel the need to fart, fart; you will feel better', thereby framing mass death as a bodily relief function., illustrating ideology of survival,Maoist self-criticism,obscenity of political language

~32:45 Is Sexuality Compatible with Human Rights? with Jean-Claude Milner2018-06-27 · 2:01:41

At the Lushan Conference after the Great Leap Forward's millions of deaths, Mao's call for self-criticism ended with a metaphor about shitting and farting to feel better, illustrating an uncanny gap between the gravity of an event and the vulgarity that erupts in its framing., illustrating implicit meta-rules,vulgarity and political speech

1:07:57 Slavoj Zizek lecture Totality or Assemblage 012022-02-23 · 1:31:00

Mao Zedong, taking responsibility for the Great Leap Forward deaths, told cadres to 'shit' and 'fart' to feel better. Žižek argues this equates ethical responsibility with physical flatulence, a vulgar 'moral masochism.', illustrating moral masochism,ideology

58:18 Žižek and Friends - Philosophy, Psychoanalysis and the Spaces Between (Nov. 2017)2017-11-14 · 1:03:09

At the Lushan conference called for self-criticism after the Great Leap Forward's millions of deaths, Mao admitted guilt, then concluded with: 'If you need to shit, shit, you will feel better; if you need to fart, do it, it will make you feel better, that is how we should do self-criticism.' Žižek reads the obscene ending as political-rhetorical deflection from the enormity of the crimes., illustrating obscene leadership,ideological surplus enjoyment,rudeness as political function

45:00 A Plea for Bureaucratic Socialism2017-06-28 · 2:16:05

At the 1959 Lushan party conference, after admitting responsibility for the Great Leap Forward disaster and millions of deaths, Mao concluded his speech with the advice: 'if you have to shit, if you have to fart, fart, you will feel much better for it.' Žižek reads this as admitting responsibility meaning getting rid of it, not genuine remorse., illustrating public obscenity,Communist libidinal economy,surplus enjoyment