Slavoj Žižek & Ash Sarkar - In conversation

Join the rockstar philosopher and revolutionary Slavoj Žižek for a 75th birthday celebration of his life and thought. In conversation with writer and broadcaster Ash Sarkar.
Together they will explore his spiritual as well as philosophical journey, exploring his reflections on and respect for Christian thought. And we’ll hear capture his thoughts on the state of the world and our prospects for the future. What does he think about AI, chatbots, and the other new technologies of our age? Is there hope left for humankind in an age of impending climate catastrophe? And what does quantum theory have to say about dialectical materialism?

[@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?

[@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

[@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!

[@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?

[@vodoo6502]

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

[@garymelnyk7910]

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

[@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 :)

[@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!

[@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?

[@alexanderlopez7659]

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

[@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.

[@johnpabraham]

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

[@pauljones5066]

he's looking well for 75!

[@Pqag]

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

[@halfrousseau69]

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

[@toncicoric6327]

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

[@akram4139]

How can you hate this man! Happy birthday Slavoj 🌹

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

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

[@GingerJoberton]

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

[@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.

[@auroraorha]

Long live Žižek! Happy birthday! ✊❤

[@khalida613]

Happy birthday our Slavoj Zizek ❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉

[@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".

[@aagurrego]

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

[@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 😊

[@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! 👍

[@tomg268]

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

[@Grappapappa]

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...

[@axelsandi]

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

[@bertiemarshall3391]

I was there and it was grande…

[@CharlesOwen93]

This is a real meeting of the mind.

[@yungsloth420]

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

[@joshtroufield]

youre wrong

[@RedRosa]

75 years old and doesn't miss a beat!

[@martinwilliams4318]

Great bloke !

[@dieguerson]

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

[@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!

[@JayKumar-hw7ko]

Happy Birthday Zizek

[@valariemgutierrexa.k.a.map6085]

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

[@johnd2058]

Third! Also, happy birthday, Professor!

[@danielmartines3859]

Thanks!

[@TheSutov]

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

[@andrewbarzal1650]

The chemistry between these two is perfect

[@eliasE989]

Happy birthday Zizek!

[@Life_Of_Mine_]

I love you my Slavoj Zizek ❤

[@dasicdorde6975]

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

[@LechugaWable]

Best Q&A ever 🎉

[@howtoappearincompletely9739]

No democracy!

[@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.

[@rafaelcarvalho3928]

Slavoj looking great

[@blyysm]

2024: Žižek speaking about the Grail

[@user-nb9nj1wo6d]

Happy Birthday. I LOVE u

[@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.

[@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.

[@MegaLozenge]

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

[@SpaceDolphinPosadist]

Happy birthday Legend ♥️🐬

[@TheRealNickG]

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

[@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

[@Alex-hu5eg]

Happy Bday Slavoj!

[@au3014]

I love this guy.

[@onepartyroule]

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

[@marintiamayolanavagarcia6377]

He is really great!

[@TheGinglymus]

Why are these things always so short?

[@bourdieufan7433]

big slav playing all the hits

[@markantrobus8782]

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

[@tryharder75]

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

[@leedb1]

What a duo!

[@tenseman08]

zizek rizzing on ash sarkar was not on my 2024 card

[@hubertussuppenstiefel5590]

The man is unique 😅

[@garymelnyk7910]

Like Blake. Like Emily Dickinson. Like Thelonious Monk. Like Howlin’ Wolf. Rave on Slavoy, rage against the machine.

[@SA-ff9uc]

Assumed he was about 20 years younger.

[@Mdahbar]

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

[@Itsleakim]

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

[@DacianRider]

Happy birthday ! *sniff

[@LaLasta]

good job ash!

[@ElectricityTaster]

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

[@erminadiegrosse]

Žižek kralj!

[@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.

[@nikanikasept]

75 A.Ž

[@Hadi.Najjar]

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

[@czarquetzal8344]

The god of high theory.

[@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.

[@pomomxm246]

Ash is my hero 🙌

[@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.

[@joeyrufo]

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

[@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.

[@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.

[@etasjo]

1:03:29

[@PetaloudesTouYialou]

Yep, time to think about graveyard real estate prices😂

[@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...

[@FelonyBellend]

Happy birthday comrade! ❤️✊

[@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.

[@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 😅😂

[@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.

[@rafaelvalseca551]

I do belice in bees, humming birds,river,ocean...,but omnipotente & $$$...In Gold we Trust,shit isn't It! Happy new free Palestine. Free Julian Assange. Better future Slavov...

[@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.

[@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

[@BillyViBritannia]

75 and the mofo seems to have retained everything he read during his life. I read a book and next year I barely remember what it was about.

[@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

[@michingmallecho5143]

"you are really dipping yourself a feelthy leeeberal". Hahahaha. An insult much to be feared.

[@JohnnyPunchClock]

Shleventy phleyth (phelm)

[@LisztV]

❤🇵🇸

[@aprescoup]

*Capitalism’s court jester: Slavoj Žižek* by Gabriel Rockhill at *Monthly Review Online* (MR began publication in New York City in May 1949. The first issue featured the lead article “Why Socialism?” by Albert Einstein. From the beginning, Monthly Review spoke for a critical but spirited socialism, independent of any political organization.)

[@LordByron38]

slavoj doesnt understand houthis : )i agree with him that ,,its not only west vs the rest "and i agree with him bout iranian women and bout how leftists should mobilize first world workers too.BUT Houthis dont fight the west because of any cultural issues ,they are not even more socially conservative than their opponents (Saudis and literal al qaeda among them ..)they literally only fight against ,,neocolonialism "AND (and this is very important point)they show great example of interantional solidarity with other opressed nation (palestinians)and they actually show GREAT EXAMPLE OF UNIVERSALISM to whole the world but Slavoj from the reason i dont know ignores this ..They show how colonized and opressed nations should help each other.And they dont hurt common westerners-they only boycott purely the exports of weapons ,purely the military industrial complex.We should embrace them