Marx Brothers idiot boss
joke · film: Marx Brothers ·
retold in 5 talks
Adapting the Marx Brothers joke: when a boss acts and talks like an ordinary man, his subordinate is justified in saying 'You look like an idiot, act like an idiot, don't be deceived, you really are just an ordinary man.' The joke exposes the new logic of power through displayed ordinariness.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 5
“You know this guy looks as an idiot, acts as an idiot but this shouldn't deceive you, this guy is an idiot.”
“Republicans talk about change, act as if they want change, but this should not deceive you, they really will change things.”
“this man looks as if he believes, he acts as if he believes, but this shouldn't deceive you, he really believes.”
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
castration of the symbolic public image
×1
cynical reason
×1
populist revolt as game
×1
Its cast and sources
populated by
Henry James2Boris Yeltsin2Paul Auster1Helena Bonham Carter1Mikhail Khodorkovsky1Mikhail Berezovsky1Howard Dean1John Kerry1
alongside works
Every retelling 5
Adapting the Marx Brothers joke: when a boss acts and talks like an ordinary man, his subordinate is justified in saying 'You look like an idiot, act like an idiot, don't be deceived, you really are just an ordinary man.' The joke exposes the new logic of power through displayed ordinariness., illustrating castration of the symbolic public image,cynicism as hegemonic ideology
The Marx Brothers joke: 'This man looks like an idiot, acts like an idiot, but this should not deceive you, this man is an idiot.' Žižek applies it to Republicans: they talk and act as if they want mere performative change, but don't be fooled, they really mean it, and that is the danger., illustrating populist revolt as game,ideology
The Marx Brothers joke: 'this man looks like an idiot, acts like an idiot, this shouldn't deceive you, he is an idiot.' Žižek applies it to religious believers: 'he looks as if he believes, acts as if he believes, this shouldn't deceive you, he really believes.' And the same applies to atheists., illustrating objectified belief,the structure of contemporary belief
Žižek's Hegelian joke about the gap between appearance and reality collapsing: behind the veil of appearance is nothing, only what we put there., illustrating depth as appearance-effect,Lacanian Real,Hegel on the veil of appearances
Žižek cites the Marx Brothers formula: 'This man looks and acts as if he believes but this shouldn't deceive you, he really believes.' The difficulty of sincerely believing is what makes this the position of an idiot., illustrating suspended belief,belief fragility