Organic apples as ideology
example · personal/observation ·
retold in 17 talks
Žižek confesses he buys organic apples not because he is convinced they are better but because it makes him feel good, as if he is doing something for Mother Earth. The purchase functions ideologically regardless of sincere belief.
≤2000talks it is told in, per year2026
As told 16
“Even if we have our suspicions, we buy them because again it makes us feel well.”
“Don't fool me. Do you really believe that the half-rotten expensive organic apples are healthier? I don't.”
“It's pure feel-good ideology.”
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, 5 jobsuses
cultural capitalism
×3
fetishist disavowal
×2
lifestyle ecology
×2
pseudo-activity
×2
subject supposed to believe
×2
Its cast and sources
populated by
Gianni Vattimo3Harold Pinter2Thomas J. J. Altizer2Robert Brasillach2Luc Boltanski2Naomi Klein3John D. Caputo2Shoshana Zuboff2
alongside works
Every retelling 16
Žižek confesses he buys organic apples not because he is convinced they are better but because it makes him feel good, as if he is doing something for Mother Earth. The purchase functions ideologically regardless of sincere belief., illustrating ideology in everyday life,fetishist disavowal,mode of life ecology
People buy expensive half-rotten organic apples not because they are healthier but because it makes them feel they are participating in something meaningful, a paradigm of cultural capitalism's integration of ethical consumerism., illustrating cultural capitalism,ideology
Half-rotten organic apples cost twice as much as beautiful GM apples; Žižek argues we buy them not for material quality but to feel good about saving Mother Earth, pure feel-good ideology., illustrating magical thinking (ecology),post-ideological ideology
Žižek observes that people buy expensive half-rotten organic apples not because they genuinely believe them healthier but because the purchase makes them feel part of a larger ecological movement, buying ideology along with the apple., illustrating cynical belief,ideology,objective belief
Most 'organic' apples sold at double the price are reportedly the same as regular apples, or the rotten ones, but buying them creates narcissistic satisfaction of doing something for Mother Nature, replacing systemic critique with consumer identity., illustrating individualization of guilt,ideology and consumer identity
Buying organic apples gives consumers the feeling of saving the earth even though most don't really believe they are healthier; like shouting at the TV to influence the game, it is a form of magical thinking that substitutes for real action., illustrating pseudo-activity,lifestyle ecology,ideology