Slavoj Žižek & Ash Sarkar - In conversation

[@dt6822]

"I noticed with my Jewish friends, none of them believe in God, but God still gave them the land of Israel." - Slavoj Zizek. Long live Diogenes. Thank you Slavoj. You have made my life richer.

[@greadion4]

I could not say it better.

[@Kid_Ikaris]

Once you get the way Zizek is playing jester most of the time, his stuff becomes so much less dense and more fun. What a guy. Really. By Zeus.

[@dt6822]

@@Kid_Ikaris He is very much as Diogenes was, and many of the Cynics

[@Kid_Ikaris]

@@dt6822 did Diogenese ever write anything down?

[@TheBarroomHero321]

@@Kid_Ikaris He wrote the Big Beat Manifesto

[@froobly]

This is the best discussion/debate with Zizek that I've seen so far. I've never seen someone get him off his talking points like this. Ms. Sarkar knows the anecdotes he's about to tell (because we've all heard them anyway), and has probing follow-up questions to all of them. Usually when you have a high-profile "debate" with another public intellectual, rather than analyze and disagree with his individual points, they just use him as a launching point into one of their own prepared essays, and so it goes back and forth. This is the first time I've really seen him challenged on-stage by an intelligent person.

[@citadelo5ricks]

It was a fun interchange but instead of making points, she was making arguments that became personal, rather than about ideas. Disappointing. Nonetheless it allowed Zizek to go way off script. Lots to think about! My god he is funny, charming, amazing thinker in so many ways.

[@mattyartell9575]

@@citadelo5ricksFunny, I read this comment at the exact same time as Zizek called her a "filthy liberal"

[@citadelo5ricks]

@@mattyartell9575 he truly insults exactly as he said, a sort of endearment and signal of trust and friendship. I love it!

[@jeff__w]

“This is the best discussion/debate with Zizek that I've seen so far. I've never seen someone get him off his talking points like this.” Very true. It wasn’t a debate, really, anyway-it was, as the title of the video says, a conversation with some “confrontation” (in an intellectual sense) along the way.

[@alexverdigris9939]

Have you seen his discussion with Will Self?

[@martinslesinger1419]

Around the 19 minute mark it reminded me of this footnote that appears in a physics text book: "It could be avoided if equations could be written in three-dimensional arrays, but unfortunately publishers are as yet unable to provide such a service. A novelist, or the writer of any work for that matter, will have encountered a similar problem many times. Ideas are linked to one another in complicated patterns but in expressing them one is forced to string them out in a line, sentence by sentence." - Bryce DeWitt

[@geoffreynhill2833]

The line-by-line method of novelists only needs imaginative readers. That's all. 😉( Or do you want 3-D painters too? ) 🤔( Read my "Green Fire", IngramSpark, geoff nelson hill )🌈🦉

[@Len124]

That's so weird, I remember reading the exact footnote you're referring to; though I haven't thought about it since I first read it.

[@lukedmoss]

Brilliant

[@DJK-cq2uy]

Big deal. Pfffft hmmmmph 🤪

[@vodoo6502]

Happy Birthday Zizek!!! Thanks for everything! :))

[@garymelnyk7910]

Nicely said. If you love this man you have a good heart!

[@JoeMaama190]

That's what his poor nostrils say. 75 years of those ticks 😢

[@carterwelker7782]

I was happy to see Ash challenge him on some of his ideas. More to learn in their disagreements with each other rather than other interviewers who have no idea what he’s talking about and just nod along.

[@BigHomieGayAss1917]

I will mention Piers Morgan’s name here for no particular reason

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

@@BigHomieGayAss1917 Drawing a parallel, or is there an interview between the two?

[@dreamwolfnektovich1944]

​@@howtoappearincompletely9739 there was an interview recently. Among other things Zizek said he likes monarchy in a Hegelian kind of sense because a monarch should be a representation of the common people of the nation against the technocratic elite. But then he said that we can't do monarchy like the old days so the monarch should be powerless and maybe even determined by some kind of lottery system. And then Piers nodded along not realising Zizek just described a president. The whole interview was like that.

[@kooshanjazayeri]

the problem is as he said it in 2:02 he don't believe in development

[@A1un9ine]

@@dreamwolfnektovich1944 The structure of your comment is so f'ing elite that you don't know who you're describing. Hats off to you Sir!

[@alexanderlopez7659]

Shout out to crowd for giving up their Q&A. This was wonderful & enjoyable.

[@NinthSettler]

Excellent talk. I will remember the name Ash Sarkar.

[@farrider3339]

As what ?

[@finfan7]

She's part of Novara Media, also available here on YT.

[@jodawgsup]

@@farrider3339 And for what?

[@korpen2858]

​@@jodawgsup A great journalist

[@johnpabraham]

Wow ash is stunningly effective. Best interview of Slavoj I have ever heard. Great job!

[@tinywanderer8567]

Happy birthday Zizek! You mean a lot to us

[@garymelnyk7910]

Yes! He does.

[@IvoMaropo]

Absolutely. Without him, I'd actually be proud of myself as a Philosopher. Thanks Ziz!

[@Yulenka-]

The interviewer was so good to push back just enough against what Zizek said to keep the interview flowing and make it interesting but don't steal the spotlight. I loved it so much! 👍

[@tehdii]

I have the biggest smile when I see for the last 15 years Zizek books on their place, in the library, laying there calmly. It will be sad to see a complete, final set... Let us hope that Zizek will also have his torrent with 99GB of videos with him just like the Hitch has. Old school civility and enlightened vulgarity of his would be a thing that I will long for the most in modern times :(

[@w8rh8mmer]

He will reach three digits. So many words unspoken yet.

[@averayugen7802]

@@w8rh8mmeras As long as he doesn't spit. I can't listen to him speaking with the waterworks.

[@feqanhacibalayev6426]

are you reading them?

[@tehdii]

@@feqanhacibalayev6426 I have read one whole and many fragments from others. I still need to grab the newest one :) There is only so much hours and I have come back to SF and the amount of authors is killing me :) I try to squeze some Zizek :)

[@brutalmop]

Hitch?

[@Pqag]

Nice to see zizek challenged like that, a good talk.

[@benwinstanleymusic]

Incredible interviewing Ash! Hands down best discussion I’ve seen with Zizek

[@toncicoric6327]

Profesor Zizek is always interesting. One of the greatest intellectual of our time.❤❤

[@pauljones5066]

he's looking well for 75!

[@akram4139]

How can you hate this man! Happy birthday Slavoj 🌹

[@halfrousseau69]

total legend, and so on and so on...

[@danielmartines3859]

Thanks!

[@RedRosa]

75 years old and doesn't miss a beat!

[@aagurrego]

We may have only a few years left with this man. May God bless him (in the atheist sense, or whatever, blah blah).

[@GingerJoberton]

Very interesting, she was a good host and interlocutor. Wish we had longer.

[@axelsandi]

He is in top Form! Happy birthday from your Munich friends

[@SvenErik_Lindstrom3]

Congratulations! I know we have had many fierce battles, but you know that I still regard you as one of the world's leading intellectuals today.

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

Hmm...

[@maxxone3765]

to me this was one of the most beautiful interviews with Slavoj ever...

[@CharlesOwen93]

This is a real meeting of the mind.

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

This needed to be longer. I feel like they only really got into it around the 43-minute mark.

[@VYBEKAT]

OMG I would DIE to see his interpretation of Percival

[@infernoglass_]

He speaks about Wagners Parsifal in a talk on KZbin called "The Hegelian Wound".

[@sunibunny5]

Hahaha....Parsifal would turn in grave!

[@khalida613]

Happy birthday our Slavoj Zizek ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@atwarwithdust]

“I think you do a really good job of saying the opposite thing to what you mean by yourself, and you don't need my help.” - Ash Sarkar to Slavoj Žižek

[@fergusdunne8303]

Line of the night. A lesson in incision.

[@mousaka878]

Great bloke !

[@shahlaahy4372]

Love deprh of Zizek's morality ! Yes when we are deeply connected we laugh together at jokes about each other...this would be impossible when any deep harbour of prejudice is held.

[@Itsleakim]

Ash Sarkar is the best interviewer or Slavoj I’ve seen. Her humor and whit works great with him.

[@johnd2058]

Third! Also, happy birthday, Professor!

[@tomg268]

When Zizek talks about his friends, I’m never sure whether he is talking about personal conversations or things he has read.

[@bertiemarshall3391]

I was there and it was grande…

[@dieguerson]

thank you Slavoj and all of you for giving him some love!

[@lilwater7358]

He came into the room, basically called everyone an idiot and left. Love it 😂

[@garymelnyk7910]

Yep, that’s our man. But I always feel……..he means no harm.

[@lilwater7358]

@@garymelnyk7910 I think that depends on his position lol

[@jeff__w]

@@garymelnyk7910 “…he means no harm.” My take is that Slavoj Žižek is stating what is for him an obvious truth and, in that sense, he means no harm.

[@jokebookrally]

The chemistry between these two is perfect

[@IamBrixTM]

Perfect chemistry between Ash and Zizek. Zizek is always awesome, but Ash being a younger communist is the perfect person to balance out and challenge him. Came for Zizek and stayed for Ash.’

[@eliasE989]

Happy birthday Zizek!

[@LechugaWable]

Best Q&A ever 🎉

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

No democracy!

[@JayKumar-hw7ko]

Happy Birthday Zizek

[@EstelaZutic-tb8ie]

Dragi gospod Žižek.Zelo rada vas poslušam.Hvala za vaše intervencije.Bravo. Tole pa kot izziv.Mislim, da se motite, ko pravite, da človek naj ne išče po sebi, ker bo (šele?) takrat butnil v grdoto.Ravno nasprotno, ko se grdega v sebi najmanj zavedamo, je le to najbolj aktivno in destruktivno, menim. Zato je treba biti aktiven tako navznoter (ko res pogledamo grdemu v faco, je tu končno priložnost, da z njim tudi opravimo, prej je ni) IN navzven, v slednjem se strinjava.Če bi vsak sebe moralno malo bolj izzval, bi bil tudi ta svet boljši. Še enkrat hvala!

[@yungsloth420]

Slavoj is so cute in an innocent kind of way!!!😊❤️❤️

[@joshtroufield]

youre wrong

[@glogovkolac10]

Živo..thank you my friend and hope to meet you one day

[@valariemgutierrexa.k.a.map6085]

Happy Birthday wishes, Zee! May the Universe "Phil" the day with Y0R heart's highest desire! 🍎 Apple for the teacher! 🍎

[@Life_Of_Mine_]

I love you my Slavoj Zizek ❤

[@TheSutov]

Well done, Ash Sarkar. Vse najboljše, Slavoj!! It's all in a name.

[@rafaelcarvalho3928]

Slavoj looking great

[@onepartyroule]

That ending with the cake was so awkward xD I love it.

[@AlejandroGarcíaTornero]

Happy Birthday. I LOVE u

[@blyysm]

2024: Žižek speaking about the Grail

[@nnnnsaakadamanas218]

Two modern day intellectual archetypes. This conversation is the tipping point

[@nnnnsaakadamanas218]

Around 30 mins in I found myself thinking: "Intellectually / analytically and especially conversationally speaking, Ash is a real match for Slavoj" - questions were totally incisive and sharp. Him goading you into counter attacking is ultimate sign of respect IMO - he would've rather discoursed with you than go to Q & A. Total credit to Ash's sharpness.

[@nnnnsaakadamanas218]

Hadn't even gotten to "Fuck them, their Q&A" yet LOL

[@bourdieufan7433]

big slav playing all the hits

[@onepartyroule]

I seem to remember Slavoj saying he used this tactic with his therapist.

[@ElectricityTaster]

This is also why he didn't eat any cake. You can't speak with your mouth full of cake.

[@MerabKe]

Ash was great. Slavoj is always great.

[@ElectricityTaster]

This was the best birthday present for Zizek: to be called a liberal, an elite and a fake victim.

[@au3014]

I love this guy.

[@chandir7752]

She definitely kinda got him when he described how he's being cancelled and later pulled back and said he didn't want to portray himself as a victim.

[@IamBrixTM]

Yeah he gets close into a typical reactionary take on cancel culture sometimes.

[@Mdahbar]

Ash Sarkaris sooo impressive. So hard to handle Zizek interrupting every fucking time.

[@kf8113]

Pretty decent talk, not many new thoughts from Zizek that aren't already mentioned in much greater detail in his latest book (Freedom: A Disease Without Cure) or in prior conversations. Ash had a bit of an itchy trigger finger though, but testing Zizek on grounds of possibly being a self-victimizing 'cancel culture' whiner was at least a productive trial with an ultimately exonerating outcome. For a journalist dedicated to truth, it appears she did not find the truth she may have expected. He handled the pressure well; even the last gesture of humiliation with the cake and birthday music was overridden with Zizek's interminable talking.

[@marintiamng]

He is really great!

[@James-wy6qu]

I like Ash but she flies close to saying that no one prominent can criticise cancel culture because it's always an example of a privileged victim complex. It means no one prominent can criticise it. It also forgets that it's the people who are not prominent who really suffer.

[@simonnilsson5356]

She seem so intelligent but has somehow (likely due to ego) not been able to free herself from wokeism or slave ideology as seen by her very tired and predictive take on cancel culture. Doesn’t these people see themselves from the outside? How in the world can they see themselves as avant garde?! The twisted thing is that this position will become avant garde within ten years. Then of course, these people’s moral compass will have been recalibrated according to the new moral paradigm and feminine dogma.

[@farrider3339]

I fully agree to both of You. She is ridiculous and a true pseudo intellectual offering empty phrases only. No space for real thinking. Her brain is mostly concerned with growing hair 😊

[@teissemey9918]

I interpreted it more as that she were trying hard to be a good host and moderator, giving Slavoj some pushback. Not sure that it's fair to attack her for ego or wokeism on that account.

[@IamBrixTM]

She openly says she has a valid criticism of cancel culture. She’s just rightfully skeptical of people conceding to a reactionary caricature of cancel culture. Zizek’s example of calling people Indians, kind of makes his point seem indistinguishable from a “filthy liberal”/reactionary take like from a Bill Maher or Sam Harris or whoever.

[@IamBrixTM]

@@simonnilsson5356”Wokeism” and “feminine dogma”? And Ash is the one that can’t see how she looks from the outside? Come on man lol

[@Life_Of_Mine_]

Greatest philosopher of all time is Zizek

[@Rayhuntter]

get help.

[@Stereotype23]

@@Rayhuntter I think a more reasonable argument would be that he is one of the greatest contemporary philosophers.

[@johnd2058]

You do you, I say in our time.

[@clydechristopher7797]

I love Zizek, but I wouldn't glaze that hard. His contribution to with his readings of hegel are Extremely important tho.

[@stal5143]

Zizek would say it's hegel

[@Alex-hu5eg]

Happy Bday Slavoj!

[@MegaLozenge]

Zizek looking at his two candles should be a meme format.

[@TheGinglymus]

Why are these things always so short?

[@SA-ff9uc]

Assumed he was about 20 years younger.

[@paulsakoilsky4639]

Beautiful

[@tryharder75]

Love how Ash knows how to pronounce consonants (judging from her education) but has made a calculated decision to not bother

[@tenseman08]

zizek rizzing on ash sarkar was not on my 2024 card

[@TheRealNickG]

That sexy beast was looking amazing! And the interviewer was nice too!

[@alejandrocastillo4622]

Good moderator

[@stfnba]

"Atheism in Christianity" is actually a book from the famous Marxist philosopher Ernst Bloch, published in 1968. Just wonder if there are any links there. The subtitle was "The Religion of the Exodus and the Kingdom" which meant the possibility of socialist 'coming' on earth.

[@DacianRider]

Happy birthday ! *sniff

[@pomomxm246]

Ash is my hero 🙌

[@Hadi.Najjar]

zizek watching the candles and wondering what to do is something else 😂

[@markantrobus8782]

It was not a scientist who questioned the Bohr horse shoe but a young journalist.

[@wdb-q4y]

What a duo!

[@LaLasta]

good job ash!

[@kassokilleri2ff]

As a right wing free market capitalist, Zizek is my favorite filthy commie. I can't believe he is 75! I never would have guessed he was that old.

[@totonow6955]

When classical economist said free market, they meant free FROM rent. So who is filthy now? Wink.

[@kassokilleri2ff]

@@totonow6955 Who cares what they think? Free market people aren't based on classical economists.

[@MistThief]

from actuarial tables, at 75 one's life expectancy is still about 10 years or so. That's enough to write an opera or two. His brain certainly seems in good condition still and I hope he still has many years left.

[@axelbruv]

14:31 Well, what did you expect when you agreed to speak with Žižek? You can't interview him like you would a politician, expecting direct answers to your questions.

[@erminadiegrosse]

Žižek kralj!

[@joeyrufo]

58:23 it's not a Paradox! It's a dialectic!

[@gigatremor9756]

It is like watching two aware and opposing double agents criticize each other in a way that doesn't jeopardize their facades.

[@kiloub]

now I'm curious to see what type of content creators or public figures you listen to who aren't double agents?

[@jacksonstenger]

Good take

[@MarkEight36]

HBD Z

[@christophedejonge918]

What a bastard! He very much resembles my (rather intelligent) father who just passed away last Christmas, who was also very much a marxist. I guess he would have enjoyed a life of/in philosophy. Rather than his government job in VAT regulations for the Netherlands and EU (in the midst of all the Dutch liberal socialists). I like mister Žižek's sense/amount of humour. Just as cynical as my father's.

[@coleabrahams9331]

So your father is living vicariously through Žižek. Pretty cool.

[@ritapompana]

As alway, Zizek remains a great intellectual and an exciting theorist without viable solutions to any current problems.

[@farrider3339]

"Philosophy has to ask the right questions." (Zizek)

[@AppearDispairDisappear-xi1gt]

Not true. To think that reality can be treated as a simple problem, like a mathematical problem, is an error that Zizem teaches to correct.

[@nikalisten]

75 A.Ž

[@mattd8725]

In the west when we see outside countries exploiting fault lines of bigotry and prejudice, we cannot afford to blame the outsider and ignore the fault line. Similarly, when looking at African countries we can see minority groups from the USA exploiting fault lines of bigotry and prejudice, and again we shouldn't allow ourselves to blame the outsider and ignore the fault line. This, I think, is Zizek's point of Hegelian universalism, where we don't put ourselves in the position of the "lords" of Africa.

[@thomasmacmillan]

I really like Zizek a lot, but he doesn't half repeat himself. 😅 His anecdotes, I mean. I think I heard basically all of them before from other lectures.

[@czarquetzal8344]

The god of high theory.

[@FG-fc1yz]

ab7:10!!! für Dr.: Geld ist nicht ein einfaches Ding, sondern ist das Resultat von unserem Verhalten bzw. IST unser Verhalten, das strukturiert ist durch Fetischismen, Begehren, soziale Strukturen, (Aber-)Glaube etc...

[@fireball43]

I don't know if it's just me, but there's something off with Zizek. Maybe it's just old age.

[@guven6350]

What is off? He is the most wild genius mind out there.

[@IamBrixTM]

Maybe elaborate. What’s off?

[@giorgimarkozashvili6785]

Zizek: "Fuck them, their Q&A" (47:51)

[@PetaloudesTouYialou]

Yep, time to think about graveyard real estate prices😂

[@perkodanny]

Slavoj… you’re my boy. But it’s time to shut it down.

[@FelonyBellend]

Happy birthday comrade! ❤️✊

[@rauldjvp3053]

If you go to a Žižek event and they say there’ll be a Q&A, you should expect there not to be one 😅😂