Reagan and Holocaust-denial dinner guests

As told 5

“What kind of friends did he have if he had all the time to argue that there was a Holocaust?”
26:07 At Nuit Blache2012-09-29 · 2:06:58

“Whenever at my dinner someone denies Holocaust, I always fight him.”
1:50:35 Freedom in the Clouds2011-10-21 · 1:35:48

“no, I am not a Holocaust denier. Every time that someone at my table claims that there was no Holocaust, I oppose him”
1:10:52 Impossibility as the Lacanian Real2015-07-08 · 1:41:03

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

dogmatism (as progress) ×2 the big Other ×2 clown act ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Alberto Toscano2 Walter Benn Michaels1 Michele Bachmann1 Sergei Parajanov1 Tavis Smiley1 Kyle MacLachlan1 Jean-Paul Badiou / Badiou reading of Genet1 Murray Bookchin1

alongside works

Rabelais and His World2 Pellican Brief / All the President's Men1 Do the Right Thing1 The Experiments with Truth (An Autobiography)1 L'Otage (The Hostage)1 Phantom of Liberty (Fantôme de liberté)1 Go West1 Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown1

Told together with

17% Native Americans prefer 'Indians' 4 shared talks 17% Haiti Constitution: all citizens are black 2 shared talks 15% Bakhtin and the Stalinist Purges 2 shared talks 13% Da Vinci Code / Da Vinci, sex displaced onto Jesus 2 shared talks 12% Dating agencies: 'find love without the fall' 2 shared talks 10% Brassed Off coffee invitation 2 shared talks 4% coffee without cream / coffee without milk 2 shared talks

Every retelling 5

26:07 At Nuit Blache2012-09-29 · 2:06:58

Reagan, accused of Holocaust-denier friends, insisted 'whenever someone at my dinner table denies the Holocaust I always insist there was one', which reveals the company he kept., illustrating good use of dogmatism,Big Other,prohibition

1:50:35 Freedom in the Clouds2011-10-21 · 1:35:48

Reagan denied being close to Holocaust deniers by saying 'whenever at my dinner someone denies the Holocaust I always fight him', which raises the question of what kind of friends he has. Used by Žižek as a model of the 'Reagan mistake': debating something already legitimises it., illustrating the Reagan mistake / legitimising by debating,dogmatism vs. debate

1:10:52 Impossibility as the Lacanian Real2015-07-08 · 1:41:03

When asked if he hosted Holocaust deniers, Reagan said 'Every time someone at my table claims there was no Holocaust, I oppose him', absurdly normalising the presence of deniers while posturing as opposed to them., illustrating clown-master / post-dignified power,ideology,fetishist disavowal

1:00:20 Rage, Rebellion, Organizing New Power: A Hegelian Triad2016-05-22 · 2:23:30

A journalist asked Reagan whether it was true that his dinner guests included Holocaust deniers; Reagan replied that whenever someone at his table denied the Holocaust, he always protested. Žižek uses this to point out what it says about the company Reagan kept that he had to defend the Holocaust at dinner., illustrating disintegration of Sittlichkeit,implicit normalization of extremism

10:10 More Alienation and the Cultural Violence2015 · 1:53:45

A journalist asked Reagan about his association with Holocaust deniers; Reagan denied it, saying he always fights Holocaust denial at his dinner table, thereby revealing the company he keeps., illustrating dogmatism as progress,what kind of norms are truly internalized vs. debated