Nixon's trip to China as utopian act

As told 3

“he did what appeared as impossible. China was portrayed as the ultimate evil superpower... That act changed the entire coordinates, it did the impossible.”
1:11:14 The Reality of the Virtual2004 · 1:13:15

“How when it happened it immediately looked normal. Of course no break of course it's rational politics.”
1:56:43 Slavoj Žižek — On G.W.F. Hegel, Lecture 1 [Remaster]2009-08 · 2:33:15

“When it happened, it immediately looked normal. Of course, no break, of course it's rational politics.”
2:00:55 The Return to Hegel2009 · 2:08:08

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

retroactivity ×2 utopia ×1 retroactive necessity ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Charles Rosen2 Thomas More1 Nora Barnacle1 Damásio Pires Pimentel1 Christiane Vulpius1 Henri Bergson2 Charles Taylor2 E. L. Doctorow2

alongside works

Under Capricorn2 Two Sources of Morality and Religion2 Sunset Boulevard2 The Selfish Gene2 The Romantic Generation2 Modern Times2 The Marriage of Figaro2 Fedora2

Told together with

50% Schumann's Augenmusik 2 shared talks 40% Bergson and the declaration of WWI 2 shared talks 22% Engels' prediction of WWI 2 shared talks

Every retelling 3

1:11:14 The Reality of the Virtual2004 · 1:13:15

Nixon visiting China, doing what appeared politically impossible given China's status as ultimate evil superpower, is cited as a modest example of enacting utopia: an act that changed the entire symbolic coordinates by doing the impossible., illustrating real utopia,enacting the impossible

1:56:43 Slavoj Žižek — On G.W.F. Hegel, Lecture 1 [Remaster]2009-08 · 2:33:15

The shocking 1972 visit by Nixon to Mao’s China, which immediately looked 'normal' and 'rational' in retrospect, despite being 'total madness' beforehand, illustrating retroactive normalization., illustrating retroactive movement

2:00:55 The Return to Hegel2009 · 2:08:08

Nixon's opening to Mao's China seemed impossible beforehand; the moment it happened it immediately looked normal and rationally inevitable, a paradigm case of a Lacanian act creating its own conditions of possibility retroactively., illustrating the Lacanian act,retroactive possibility,retroactive necessity