Slavoj Zizek - Black Lives Matter & identity politics

[@iwouldprefernotto49]

If you want to get Zizek's 'I WOULD PREFER NOT TO' t-shirt you can do so here: i-would-prefer-not-to.com

[@momenakod6399]

"I'm approaching the end" "To conclude" and "Just two minutes" are Zizek's opening slogans

[@bizambo100]

"I say this to provoke you"

[@morgengrauen1977]

"Now I come to my final point" at the beginning of his speech 😊 but Zizek is a brilliant mind and a fearless thinker.

[@MartinHonc]

and so on and so on and so on

[@harrynac6017]

@Mike Oxenfire And you know because you were the dog.

[@harrynac6017]

@@leco452 You are forgiven 😇

[@85MasterV]

He almost did my favorite move.. the triple sniff noserub double handed facepalm technique

[@ryanmichelz94]

Lololol

[@nikthough3110]

Sauce 🔥🔥🔥

[@whitebeltforlife]

hehehe

[@dh5573]

god I hope he’s self-quarantining...

[@projectjayme1109]

This comment deserves more attention

[@karolstylok542]

Great that Zizek can explain such complicate topic in such accessible way in English and translate everything into sign language at the same time

[@valentinocaruso9282]

ahhahahahhhah

[@user-mn3ez2kl3v]

“All lives should matter. No its a lie." Sounds funny out of context.

[@gregoriosamsa2722]

possessed by Stalin's soul for that instant

[@gondor532]

sounds stupid in any context

[@cameroncampbell6931]

@@gregoriosamsa2722 HAHAHA Good one

[@singhatar0912]

Trudeu

[@davidwuhrer6704]

They are lying when they say "all lives should matter". That's just facts. They still swat flies.

[@KnowThyself619]

It amazes me how he manages to talk on difficult ideas while snorting cocaine every 10 seconds at the same time. What a badass.

[@deskryptic]

great!

[@nedsanders3246]

This is the first KZbin comment to actually make me pause the video and laugh out loud in years.

[@HusseinMohamed-ej3ch]

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@business3158]

territorial piss this man’s intellectual is far superior than all of your family routes combine

[@minstromusic7566]

😂😂😂😂😂

[@JanBabiuchHall]

Oh god the automatic translator thinks he's speaking Italian. No, Google. He's speaking Zizek.

[@sirius5338]

Italy does border Slovenia

[@sebasdan3215]

Jajaja

[@dsm5d723]

Is Babel Fish out of water?

[@johnxina2732]

Indica Ganđa but its a totally different language (roman not slavic)

[@sirius5338]

mmcmmxll it is romance but it could be the accent. Most Slovenians I know sound Italian

[@kendrickjahn1261]

I've been unfair to Zizek in the past, saying that he doesn't make sense and babbles. I retract that, especially the more I pay attention. He also wrote a great piece about the Pandemic a few weeks ago. I was wrong to say that he's just an entertainer and creates mere word salad. I'm going to stop that nonsense and listen more.

[@amnesiaguess]

I am proud of you

[@aleks_rebisz]

Oh don't look at me I'm worth nothing I was so wrong. xd

[@nihilist9216]

bcs now you agree with him one one topic? you should listen to every supid or smart thing

[@Requiredfields2]

Don't be hard on yourself. He is damn hard to hear.

[@hulubulu280]

So your like the majority of people, judging before really listening? 😉 But, great for you, he is a Darling..

[@CactusLand]

Slovoj is truly brilliant. One of the few people that whose thinking is truly critical AND creative. He is so right. Identity politics is the desperate attempt by people of European descent who have lost their identities to try and create one. They are trying to create an identity out of debasing their abstract idea of who they were. Those who truly have an identity have no need for identity politics, it is existential nonsense. Imagine asking my Irish Catholic grandmother what was her 'identity'? I really don't think African Americans need Ivy league intellectuals to define their identity, because, as Slovoj says, as soon as you define it, it's gone.

[@jahcuzzi]

I think Zizek, as a lacanian, would doubt that anyone could ever feel not alienated by their identity. Which is why he dislikes the term Native- and African-American (it appeals to some primordial and impossibly "pure" identity). It's also why I doubt he would agree that Americans of European descent have "lost their identities", since that is exactly the fake universality in which the liberal claims base themselves on

[@CactusLand]

@@jahcuzzi But that is the point, there was nothing universal about ethnic identity, it was one's natural 'in' group. It was completely unselfconscious, pre-modern. Think JFK for example, he rarely mentioned his ethnic identity, it would have seemed absurd. Then look at a Mike Pence, when he does mention it, it is obvious that it is a total construct.

[@jahcuzzi]

@@CactusLand I see your point, and I agree that certainly the alt-right and the liberals have more in common than they would like to admit. Both of them appeal to identity in a time when global capitalism (or the Empire like Huey Newton says) makes it clearer and clearer how hard it is to "affirm" your identity without reproducing the structures that, in a sense, created that identity, and at the same time make it a contradictory one. Here I think of the tourism industry, which locates zones of "authentic" culture while in that same process destroying that "authenticity" (via gentrification, etc.). But this is the point where I would maybe disagree with you, because I don't think there was any chance for authenticity or spontaneous identity in the first place. Since you can only see such authenticity through the viewpoint of capitalist postmodernity, it is an impossible object to reach, once you do it is already tainted. Which also means that we shouldn't think of pre-modern peoples as at ease with their conceptions of identity. In a sense these tensions are inherent to the concept, so there is some universality to identity, the universality of struggle like Zizek emphasizes

[@CactusLand]

@@jahcuzzi Excellent point about the tourist industry, I love that idea of it as a postmodern journey in search of 'the authentic'. I really think that is the obsession with tourism, it is a yearning to encounter something real. You really see no way to 'shake off' capitalist postmodernity? A few hits on a DMT pipe come to mind.

[@jahcuzzi]

@@CactusLand I really have no answer to that question, and maybe any idea of simply stepping outside postmodernity is an illusion, since we can't really think outside its categories or imagine anything outside it. Either way, being aware of contradictions seems to me like a big step forward, and their critique will hopefully allow us to see what those fictions were hiding all along! Cheers!

[@eduardlazarus4935]

This is what I understand: the only way to be able to say "All lives matter" is to acknowledge black suffering - "Black Lives Matter" - the concrete universality.

[@divineantiwokewarrior]

all live should matter you racist prick BLM is a racist and ethnomarxist organisation, ethnomarxism should not be considered acceptable and so should not ethnic states which is exactly what the leftists in the west seek to create

[@boomgoesdynamite4177]

Black suffering is rhetoric....and define "acknowledge." Guess which demographic in US commits the most hate crimes against Jews?

[@Xenor9hhh]

Suffering is not an accurate because every race has suffered in many ways .it's not specific to black people like for example most people dying in ww2 and ww1 were white and Jews not black so this goes to show every race has suffered.what is special in the black case is not suffering but racism and we need to acknowledge that.

[@LaserLyn]

Its a miracle that zizek can go anywhere in these corona times

[@clumsiii]

Zizek is the Vector

[@clumsiii]

@damn boi The Coronal Flare for your Private Affair

[@laKrishinda]

This is old I believe, but brilliant.

[@dhruva8106]

hahaha, but I think this is from an older talk

[@magicbean820]

Well his audience is definitely 2m away

[@sayan1667]

If i have to judge by reading the comment sections under the videos with Slavoj Zizek, my opinion is that people should look somewhere else but Slavoj and people will understand him better and they will take him more seriously. I really cant believe that people are more absessed to make fun of a something that this Man doesn't have control. I strongly believe that one of the biggest problems in global sociality is that people look only the surface of things and very few people have the ability to concentrate to listen or to look at the real point.

[@darklordbingus8705]

Dude totally, people missing the forest for the trees is a global epidemic.

[@teoteo3522]

Would be easier if he at least TRIED to be concies

[@farrider3339]

I totally agree. The level of stupidity by commenters is galactic and these are one's mostly liked. We ARE LOST with such fellas populating the planet. And I mean it !

[@maximkovalkov1334]

"Now I will do... Now I will do something to really annoy you *S* *N* *I* *F* *F* " Thanks that was quick and effective

[@phaedrus4931]

the man promises, the man delivers

[@greenbluegrass]

That's funny!

[@tiramboelaan]

LOL

[@danielebarolo5851]

All comments here are to make fun of how he speaks and are not reporting answers (wich is paradoxal cause my comment is neither doing so). It would be nice if we would use this opportunity to comment and share more thoughts on what was said by Zizek

[@mrrohitjadhav470]

Yess

[@00st307-m]

💯

[@grezende4056]

Problem is, as someone who doesnt have english as their first language... Understanding what he is saying by itself is a challenge. He has a very strong accent

[@camorraII1]

thank you. gosh I hate these stupid people commenting the same old same old...

[@sigurdvj1274]

I agree, but the format of the KZbin commen section is not proper designed for such a discussion. Anyhow, here is what I think: I admire and look up to his great academic ability to radically discuss sensitive subjects. In many respects his portrayals of transgenderism, Black Lives Matter, LGBT+ etc. will in popular culture be received very bad. However, he is able to place it as a subject matter of reflection that provokes valuable thoughts. It is not to counterargue BLM or the horrors of violence, but it is essential to examine the epistemic roots of the discussion going on. I really enjoy the critique of the essential nature of identity politics and the power relation at play between notions of nations within colonialist theory, and the conclusion that it becomes the all inclusive subjectivity. I want my SoMe-profiles to be assigned the very "+" as label for my personal categorisation of gender identity. With Zizek's line of thinking in this clip, identifying as + may be the solution for now. Or the opposite: that acquiring the "+" as an identity reinforces essentialism and is thus no longer able to contain its sheer subjectivity - similar to the paradox of answering the question "Why do you love me?". Once you claim it identity-wise it is no longer pure identity/subjectivity. But even in that case, selecting it on SoMe encapsulates the embedded paradoxes in identity politics and enacts my subtle, rebellious, anticapitalist agenda.

[@Oggy_Oi]

Like, Wife asks “do you love me?” I replied “what you on about, I love everybody!” 🤣😂

[@Curioinfinity]

😱😱😱

[@deldia]

That’s not analogous. The analogy would be that the wife feels discriminated against because of a specific characteristic she cannot control. She then goes to her husband and protests for hours she needlessly suffers and it matters. The husband agrees it matters but they should assess all their problems and work on solutions. He then also suggests watching some interviews with Coleman Hughes on the topic of systematic racism.

[@ArtUnbowed]

More like, wife "do you love me" husband "I love all my wives".

[@ArtUnbowed]

@@greenbluegrass wife "I need shampoo", husband "I will get shampoo for all my lovely wives"

[@ArtUnbowed]

@@greenbluegrass all wives matter

[@davidbutler9323]

If Slavoj had Covid he would be a super spreader.

[@mandar1311989]

Rolling on the floor... hahahahaha. This is an incredibly witty joke

[@carlliu2887]

Lmao

[@dsm5d723]

Maybe so, the RNA would bacdafucup after five minutes of trying to infect him. Like a debate. He might well retain an excess of virus in his magnetic field, making him a potential super spreader, but he is probably not out on the town.

[@SydneyD28-6]

And the question comes: Does it even exist.?

[@christopherlopez2591]

This is me at 6am talking about my childhood in some after hours nightclub with 3 other people in a bathroom stall lol

[@ishtiaqahmed-fh7sr]

Ah the good auld devil's dandruff.

[@rusne.]

hahah, same!

[@ec8810]

Best analogy I’ve ever read.

[@heermoes7916]

"Now I will do something to really annoy you." -> *Sniffs*

[@Faustusin]

People watching this expecting a definite solution to identity politics need to understand Zizek is not going to give you one line solutions. He brings out points on both sides, he may have personal bias towards one side of the argument but he will not stop from explaining the other side too. No wonder you are not able to get any grand solution from his talks. There is none. World and real life are nuanced. There is no Theory Z which fits everything.

[@risen1726]

Its hard too understand him speaking ..is the any transcripts?

[@nerdimusprime8753]

He has such a postmodern view for someone who disapproves of postmodernism

[@Trainwreq31]

Damnit. Ya really nail it in with this. Life is fucked if you do and fucked if you dont... No! there is no one size fits all solution. We go along with what we can and make the best of the worst, if we can now, make anything at all. Chaos makes no apologies for our feelings.

[@balkanblackpillvideosandmo8456]

@Ak Kher Balanced , as all things should be

[@mmikaojONE]

And so on.. and so on!

[@srikarpamidi1946]

For all the memes, a brilliant mind. Utterly refuses to compromise the left to liberals. My personal favorite : "If you will allow me to be...perverse here, a little bit."

[@davidbolha]

[sniff] 😄

[@villegas24]

Zizek is brilliant. I wish I could go back to Uni and attend some of his courses.

[@Mcweeever]

Like James Brown.. I am coming to the end... wraps himself in cape and continues... I can’t go on... hobbles off continuing... the last word... continues and so on AND SO ON! 😂 love this guy .. absolute legend.

[@deskryptic]

Genius comment!

[@austin7037]

"For the mindset of the flesh is death, but the mindset of the Spirit is life and peace."

[@johnrambo99999]

I've seen hundreds of videos of Zizek, I still dont know what his opinion is on anything.

[@georgie3593]

@@daysurge2525 yeah same maybe i'm stupid but i dont know wtf hes really on about lol

[@THOMASCOLTON1]

He's a thinker, not a populist or staunchly entrenched in political party ideologies.

[@FoulUnderworldCreature]

@@daysurge2525 Read his books. He makes clear commentary on philosophy, but not really on politics, which is what you would expect from his "Hegelian turn"

[@NoahsUniverse]

@@daysurge2525 He is an analyst of the mind, hence his work in psychoanalysis, specifically Lacanian psychoanalysis. His point is to make you think, and there will be many points along the way. This is a psychoanalytical talk.

[@lukejensen6802]

He is a critical theorist with a psychoanalytic bent, in lectures and articles I’ve seen he seems more interested in deconstruction than proposing solutions or opining. His deconstructions are meaningful though as they can reveal hidden motives lurking in ideological movements

[@GalacticBeatz]

He literally touched his nose more then a 100 times.

[@danmaks1047]

Cocaine

[@grippercrapper]

We need to get him some surgery to fix those nasal passages.

[@srf222]

@@grippercrapper I'm from Slovenia. Źiźek suffers from nerve demadge and inspite this hard demadge he is brilliant soul. Show some respect to people who are not lucky with good health.

[@grippercrapper]

black olive - My goal isn’t to be disrespectful. I do respect the man. In this case stating what was absurdly obvious was just humor, not disrespect. I in no way fault him for having physical disabilities.

[@totalSLACK]

The "new normal" awareness has me thinking if he doesn't get covid, it def doesn't exist lol

[@gretashapiro4118]

Professor Sylvester the cat

[@TommWayfarer]

I always laugh like a child with that analogy.

[@deldia]

🤣

[@jasminfumarate5620]

(Amazingly nice!) Hahahahaha...

[@Fabzil]

Where is my jewish joke ?

[@EGnoSecondG]

here, at the beginning of this video :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/amiVnXZ7rpmXeNk

[@nodeviscera342]

​@@EGnoSecondG Awesome! thnx.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Are you nothing enough to get it?

[@farrider3339]

"The problem with identity politics is that they presuppose that identity exists. I DON'T THINK iT EXISTS !" Precisely for this statement by master Z. I've been waiting for a long LONG time. I knew he knows this, but saying it explicitly is an ultimate a super heavy bomb to ALL societal and cultural construct's we're so proud of as mankind. Hail Zizek 🛐

[@samyrandome425]

This actually makes a lot of sense. Subjectivity and the struggle to conform to a specific identity is based.

[@user-yw9in2sb5r]

Why not fly free within your own being

[@samyrandome425]

@@user-yw9in2sb5r that's definitely cool too whenever possible

[@user-yw9in2sb5r]

@@samyrandome425 Yessir 💕

[@bierrollerful]

subtitles available: Zizekian

[@leonli4527]

If you try to turn on the subtitle it will say Italian (automatic)

[@iv7796]

Im usually not a Zizek guy but damn when he is right he right!

[@dimitriosfromgreece4227]

Yes yes ,, 😃 love from sweden ❤❤❤

[@suddenuprising]

"when he supports what I already believe he is right!"

[@iv7796]

@@suddenuprising yes, you got it buddy!

[@dimitriosfromgreece4227]

@@suddenuprising AMAZING 😀

[@veganevolution]

No more depth than the next pop star

[@stygianxv2797]

The ideals on labels is something I've been thinking about for years. It seems like a primitive system being held on by a desperate need for identity.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

It is a primitive system being held on to by a desperate need to maintain a veneer of legitimacy for racism.

[@ዮናታንፃድቅ]

"What is hysteria in subjectivity sense? asking identity at least in a primitive level"

[@Wissahickon]

“Water is Sacred” Talk about praying to the mountains, I want Zizek’s opinion on the Dakota Pipeline protests.

[@veganevolution]

Honestly, his comment about Native American identity disgusted me. Having studied Native cultures in college, I know their beliefs have been deeply rooted in love and appreciation for nature. Imagine how they felt throughout centuries of genocide and industialization of the vast majority of their land... Its crude to generalize their historical connection with spirituality as cliche

[@veganevolution]

@Ginger Ginger It should think for everyone but it does not, only the top 1 percent or so.

[@domsjuk]

@@veganevolution Interesting take, and I agree that he as so often (for the sake of simplicity and him not really caring that much) oversimplifying and probably mostly ignorant about the actual culture of these people. But I nonetheless think what he implies about the folkloristic reduction and romantization of native American culture is right and is consistent with his other claims. A point he often makes to support this is the fact that - I'm paraphrasing - despite having an ideology of living in a harmonic symbiosis with nature, just as almost any other form of civilization in history they never truly did, i.e. they exploited their own ecosystem more than was sustainable etc. and much of it is of course mere superstition and tradition. While I am sympathetic to the spiritual experiences and insight these cultures did and do achieve in communion with nature and them preserving parts of their living culture and languages is hugely important, there is the obvious danger that this aspect together with all the folklore is being absolutely essentialized. Native American identity is thereby excluded from the frame of western/liberal universality and the people have a hard time establishing their own version of universality, of modernity and secularism, making it seem to remain in an external and particular rather than an internal opposition to the dominant ideology, universality and capitalist system. Being in external opposition works, of course, in countering threats (like big corps digging through their land), as it has some widely accepted legitimacy, but it can also petrify an identity that is basically defined as a "relative complement" to the dominant culture. That is why I think the collaboration with e.g. nature protection initiatives, or people fighting for different forms of land use and ownership or even schooling or health care, or wherever their struggle is in line with that of other "particular identities", is very important there and should fill in and undergird the cultural aesthetics.

[@veganevolution]

@@domsjuk you just disqualified your own defence of him in saying he doesn't care about the very thing he's defending. Unless you can say something simply and with substance (which is easy if you are defending true ideas), I would reccomend you look into Seventh Generation, which is a Native American-run company that makes cleaning products in a way that is sustainable for the next seven generations. Seven generations of sustainability is a concept of the Native Americans well before the industrialization of their territory that has ultimately led to the deterioration of the planet's biosphere, as well as the atmospheric toxicity. It frightens me that ti this day there is still so much ignorance around what happened to the tribal communities and families who were slaughtered and right up through the 1970s, sterilized without their consent. Their religious traditions and cultural beliefs actually venerated nature and the animals they had to eat to survive. I would wager my life that with if the type of belief systems and conscientiousness that the Native Americans have always celebrated were practiced throughout the development of our modern culture, we would not be experiencing such massive destruction and species extinction on a global scale.

[@domsjuk]

​@@veganevolution Eeehm, I think we are not quite on the same page. Sure, I could put that statement more simply, but - no offence - frankly, if you didn't get that, I don't think you can follow what Zizek is trying to explain here about universality and forced and constructed identities in the first place, nor do you in fact seem to care about that at all, because all you do is pointing out some insights and opinions about native American culture. That was an example primarily and not the actually crucial thing about his claim, but yeah, here we go... Ignoring arguments for petty sophistry is certainly one way to go about it, and evidently not every simple statement is true or relevant either, but I will respond to your point - btw, ironically, even without caring too much about the details, he made a deeper point than you seem to realize... Now, just so you know, I'm not an American, and I don't have any sentimental inhibitions towards or romantic ideals about the genocidal aspects of European/white settlers' expansion in North America, basically until the present day, I am in fact very sympathetic to the spiritual practices and cultural expression of those peoples and I don't endorse ignorance on that, so as an alleged learned person, I invite you to check or dismiss my points with examples. I think your representation of NA ideology and spiritual practice as indicative of their actual life style is slightly romanticized and misleading, which is just what Zizek is criticizing (note, he is not presenting a deep evaluation of NA civilizational practices, nor is he purporting they aren't useful and wise, or even more sustainable, just referring to the well-known cases of patronizing naive whites idealizing NA culture and history in that way and limiting the modern NA identities to this image). I really have no doubt, that NA traditional pre-modern life style is way "more sustainable" than our modern growth-fetishizing industrialized mass-societies, just as most primitive societies were for the mere fact of their technological standards. But to make a slightly cynical point: inter-tribal war, plights, natural disasters and the small-scale decentralized nature of most of their communities may have allowed things like the very practical slash-and-burn practices in many places to remain sustainable enough, just as much as the NA ideology of venerating nature and their spiritual tradition has, which you exemplify with that seven generations principle. Ideology though usually has some discrepancies with everyday life practice. And contrary to the previous point the over-exploitation of natural resources is a reoccurring theme all over the globe and in the Americas as well, afaik the Mississippi culture, to stay in that area, suffered from it as well, and it seems to some extent an inherent curse of establishing urban mass-societies in history. What is important now, as I alluded to previously, is to take as many of the ideology and cultural practices as possible and assert them in a way compatible with a universalist, humanist and secularist perspective - if this can mean something like your example of an ethical business practice, that seems fair enough to me. But this obviously has to go well beyond the traditional ways of previous centuries and the assumed particular NA identity, which as I said is often just patronizing and exclusive.

[@andrehayworth8911]

I am certainly not a communist, but I LOVE this guy

[@DaveE99]

Only true struggle is the struggle for universality (Hegelian I assume)

[@simone9781]

The universal starts from the individual

[@robdale88]

I'm relatively new to Zizek and Hegelianism. What does he mean by this struggle for universality?

[@chalinofalcone871]

"Literacy remains even now the base and model of all programs of industrial mechanization; but, at the same time, it locks the minds and senses of its users in the mechanical and fragmentary matrix that is so necessary to the maintenance of mechanized society. That is why the transition from mechanical to electric technology is so very traumatic and severe for us all. The mechanical techniques, with their limited powers, we have long used as weapons. The electric techniques cannot be used aggressively except to end all life at once like the turning off of a light. To live with both of these technologies at the same time is a peculiar drama of the 20th century." [Understanding Media, Marshall McLuhan, 1964, Ch. Weapons]

[@stjepan_8902]

Precondition for this struggle is questioning the nature of things and this in many cases transcends into the struggle between subject-object perception and state of oneness, cravings of ego and deeper states of being. A state of questioning is at the center of the search for universality, not an argument to be won.

[@robdale88]

Thanks but what does that mean in non-obfuscated terms?

[@A_Box]

Easy answer "to why do you love me?" >I love the cluster of characteristics that make you up. I couldn't reduce it to any particular one.

[@MoroccanAnwar]

:)

[@davidwuhrer6704]

So if any of those characteristics changes at all, you'll stop loving the person, correct?

[@bahardan8544]

I like reading him but damn listening him is so tiring! I just can’t...

[@pastiche9]

What have you read recently ?

[@bahardan8544]

Daaniyal Hassan Violence 😊

[@pastiche9]

@@bahardan8544 i recently started 'Sublime object of ideology' can't get through . Is there some more basic Zizek book ?

[@Drnkrocklee]

Daaniyal Hassan I’m reading Like a thief in broad daylight right now and it’s pretty accessible

[@pastiche9]

@@Drnkrocklee funny names ain't it ? When I read Zizek I'm kicked into Lacan, Hegel and Kant . I get lost , but I'm trying to make through.

[@holden6104]

Dude, can I just get a transcript?

[@tiramboelaan]

Agreed, I can't watch this guy without getting really uncomfortable.

[@adrianmercuri8956]

Do you mean a face mask and a visor?

[@DIYTFY]

No.

[@MorningStar-nd3yg]

His accent is very thick, hard to understand on what he's saying.

[@arkanstigers6007]

because English wasn’t his first language and My man has a permanent cold lmfao

[@onurbole7921]

It reminds me of Suzan-Lori Parks, a brilliant playwright who often complains that critics think she only represents black people as if a black writer can't create universal works. But in my opinion, her "blackness" is that "excess +" Zizek is talking about, based on her essay where she defines "black theater." I know Zizek hates the idea of decentralization, and seems to reject minority resistances, but that's what I would like to ask him: Is it not possible to use one's "non-universal" features not as an identity but pure excess? Another question that comes to my mind is, is it not cruel to force someone to take the hysterical position and ask the authority why he/she is what it defines them as? Especially when you are beaten and killed and criminalized for being black, isn't it crucial to get rid of that specific injustice before we ask them to stop defining themselves as black? What if they say, to use one of Zizek's favourite quotes, "I would prefer not to reject blackness"? May someone not take the opposite path of hysteria and say "I am blacker than what the system says black is"?

[@pedrocamara9088]

What's the difference between identity and pure excess?

[@EJtube]

Getting rid of injustice starts with getting rid of that definition.

[@onurbole7921]

@@EJtube A bludgeon slashing your skull open is not a definition.

[@pedrocamara9088]

@@onurbole7921 Would you like to say the difference between identity and pure excess?

[@EJtube]

@@onurbole7921 Yeah and where does that happen in western society exactly?

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

6:22 ☝️🙌

[@nukepizzaa]

Explains feminine hysteria as the root cause for the feminist chaos

[@litao5387]

zizek clearly defeated google speech recognition.

[@paulstrahnickiy1724]

He touched his nose in this video 180 times :)

[@iv7796]

@Alf Mucha whats wrong with a little coke?🤣

[@user-mo9fw7iw4u]

@Alf Mucha lol, he's got tourette syndrome, read up on that

[@IdealLessons]

@Alf Mucha I disagree about the "stupid" part. His Interrogating the Real is a fantastic book, as one example.

[@shelleybrock3624]

Pain pills will do that.

[@Bigbossdeadlift]

Alf Mucha He has a tick, anything to say about his arguments tho?

[@alvarov4279]

He seems like a great thinker. But I’ve tried to listen man, if only I could understand what he’s saying....

[@dd-ry6tp]

My first language is not English. Could any kind enough to provide English CC here? I can't hear what he said

[@forestaltmer8899]

Even those whose first language is English can't understand what he's saying lol

[@delightfullypiquant765]

Native English speaker here, and I’m watching it a third time trying to parse out his words. I still can’t make out everything.

[@no_peace]

It's almost unbearable for me as autistic native English speaker

[@GijsInc]

Uh it's quite easy for me as a (autistic but I don't see the relevance) non-native speaker. If you can't understand it i recommend picking up one of his short books, he repeats himself a lot.

[@bi7843]

Plot twist: length of video is 9:11

[@marlonhengtgen3004]

Reminds me of that tragedy

[@marlonhengtgen3004]

@jaleel appleseed I was simply quoting Norm Macdonald lol

[@marlonhengtgen3004]

@jaleel appleseed What is the supposed end goal of these perpetrators? Genuinely curious.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

What plot?

[@HodBend]

Can someone do the professional voice over and maybe add some animations so I can actually watch this video?

[@Miningfox]

Very up to date...

[@ElectricChaplain]

This is the best rebuttal to "All Lives Matter" I have ever seen, and the actual implications of the statement "Black Lives Matter".

[@Tom_Tom_Klondike]

Something like: Identity politics fails because decolonization is no longer possible.

[@harackmw]

This is perhaps the best comment here.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

Not quite. Identity politics perpetuates the very issues it claims to address. Decolonisation is a red herring based on identity politics. It is a good example of how identity politics cannot and will not solve the issues and only make them worse.

[@laurioho2041]

@@davidwuhrer6704 Identity politics is the system forcing an identity on you and through colonialism destroying the posibility of any alternative identity

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@laurioho2041 That's one thing it does, yes.

[@GwazaJuse]

Žižek is back!

[@mel.jackson]

The sniff of Sisyphus.

[@b42thomas]

sniffyphus

[@syrianization]

Watching zizek makes my nose itch.

[@clarkstepo]

give this guy a medal for most facial touching in 2020.

[@franktheco]

Almost more than the kid from dazed and confused.

[@VolkColopatrion]

We do not usually look for allies when we love. Indeed, we often look on those who love with us as rivals and trespassers. But we always look for allies when we hate. It is understandable that we should look for others to side with us when we have a just grievance and crave to retaliate against those who wronged us. The puzzling thing is that when our hatred does not spring from a visible grievance and does not seem justified, the desire for allies becomes more pressing. It is chiefly the unreasonable hatreds that drive us to merge with those who hate as we do, and it is this kind of hatred that serves as one of the most effective cementing agents.

[@zachzorn9930]

This should be used as an anti cocaine ad

[@cliffroberts1774]

Zach Zorn Good to see you here Zac lol

[@ReckerFidelWOLF]

I am a new subscriber and I am a Communist of 3 years. My position is leftcom and I would have to concur that many times before I have proven Marxist-Leninist's wrong on many key arguments before. This guy, puts actual real knowledgeable 2 senses in his analysis instead of baffling theories straight out of a book. This guy needs to educate Marxist-Leninists that Lenin is not just daddy and can't solve every single thing by the centralization of government that perpetuates bourgeoi control over the National economics. Essentially restarting the bourgeoisie.

[@nerdimusprime8753]

When he repeated the quote from the black panther founder my mouth was gaping open, because I was just like " Woaaah, that's some true stuff"

[@milton7763]

I never knew Daffy Duck was so smart

[@dsm5d723]

To anyone who young, on the Left and a fan of Zizek, i implore you to watch a 1990 film that I think encapsulates the still-current resentment of this confused and angry generation. Google has become the cultural memory and identity matrix of the minds of a generation, going on two, and most take their constructed, deconstructionist social reality as such. The Life of the Individual seems not to register in the face of algorithmic compression. "Pump Up The Volume," starring Christian Slater, expresses the post 1960's, middle class white ennui with what had been left to discover and change, the power and paradoxical anonymity of communication (pirate radio in a small town) and the sense that all that remains is Zizek's hedonistic and self-satisfying Western Buddhism, no matter how many people your voice reaches. All this in the context of "late" capitalism, as clouded as that is conceptually. Change mass communications and the minds of the people using the physical culture, and here we are.

[@dsm5d723]

@ⰄⰓⰄⰀ Moron. It is the same EXACT story with more toys and less intelligence.Times END mmathemaically. Insect brain.

[@emmettwalsh6901]

When you take pre workout but remember you have to do a quick lecture first.

[@MrBillcale]

this man is totally insane , and i love him for it

[@Neoentrophy]

Wow, where even to begin, I feel like Ive had a brain haemorrhage after that

[@Jaxcen-xr3me]

Is there a place where I can read what he is saying instead of listening?

[@oliverbender3764]

Shnoobers Stark I suppose that he reiterates his ideas in his book.

[@elrecursodelmetodo]

@@oliverbender3764 which one specifically?

[@oliverbender3764]

If I remember correctly, he simply called it “Corona!”, but I might be mistaken. I recently read a review about it in the Guardian, in tandem with a more theological essay on how we could explain that God would let us suffer this pandemic.

[@joshuadaley224]

It's up there in the title. 'For a Left that Dares to Speak its Name', is the name of the book.

[@icaliver]

Was this part of a larger Q&A? If so is the full interview online? I’m intrigued by this point of view.

[@darthbanana7]

כן

[@joshadamson6874]

Zizek is hilarious and insightful

[@LeonWagg]

Here's a full talk kzbin.info/www/bejne/p6ndZa2hhMSWm5Y

[@markmasters4259]

Am I the only one out there that can only understand about 40 percent of what he says? Lol it should be mandatory to put subtitles in every video in which Zizek speaks, of course there's auto generated subtitles but it thinks he's speaking Italian 🤣

[@caspar_gomez]

does anyone know where that newton quote is from? I want to read more but im not sure where to start

[@beansandapricots8534]

does anyone have a transcript?

[@jdwoods2008]

He said, "I can't feel my face. I mean, I can touch it, but I can't feel it."

[@Johannastairwellstudio]

Yes l would love that also if anyone has

[@MS-il3ht]

Cam Bell it goes as follows: Epstein didn‘t kill himself

[@Johannastairwellstudio]

Sunny Midnite hi l saw you’d answered my post and l can’t for the life of me wee where your response is regarding the transcripts. Definately my bad with regard to using this platform properly! Arghhh l will keep looking.

[@Johannastairwellstudio]

Sunny Midnite well done thank you for persisting. Have no idea how to copy and save but will figure it out. As it won’t highlight etc. but huge thanks again sunny

[@katherinek599]

i love the captions

[@pipersolanas3322]

Love this man omg

[@PunkyReggaeBuddhA]

This is quite similar to Raimon Panikkar talking about identity. He also specify how the great mistake of western civilization is to confuse the identification, which is for istance how tall are you or what color your skin is, with the identity.

[@gartenstuhl2396]

Could someone elaborate what Zizek means with 'concrete universality' in context of the "all lives matter" response?

[@UserName-ii1ce]

If I were to venture to guess I would say that it is systemic racism that is present everywhere but most visible in government

[@beanbagchair]

I understood it to mean popular appeal for a cultural singularity - proponents of "all lives matter" seek to dismantle the need for "black lives matter" because it contradicts their ingrained belief in a singular (white) ethnostate in which all of culture exists. In terms of historical reality, universality doesn't exist, which is why it's problematic to construct one's ideology around it. He loosely defines those adherents to concrete universality as reactionaries, essentially. In terms of white liberals, identity politics are useful to their fallacy of universality because it assumes that identity is innate or inborn, rather than learned or constructed. I think?

[@fufubunnyiz1006]

I may be wrong, (it's very possible) but it seemed like he was saying: defining ourselves "we are___" & ""they are ___" divides us, and creates a weakness in our character, that can be exploited. Just as responding All Lives Matter, creates discord, making many people recoil from the issue of systemic racism, in an attempt to defend those they identify with. The more ways we find to label ourselves, the more cliques we form...the easier we are to be emotional and get offended, and the less we seek truth or justice, with objectivity AND the easier we are to manipulate.

[@fufubunnyiz1006]

I think in terms of Nationalism, the "clique" is your country and it implies, you are with us or against us...even when your national government doesn't serve everyone, equally.

[@THOMASCOLTON1]

The struggle is the universality, not them & us, slave traders didn't only oppress black people it was a systemic oppression of many groups over time by an elite ruling class. Marxist perspective.

[@Muchowski_B]

Absolutely spot on

[@casualobserver2380]

I really wish I could understand him better.

[@craiuirinel4103]

Yea this man has a learning curve attached. I suggest watch his movies and you will understand him better

[@casualobserver2380]

@@craiuirinel4103 I am not speaking from a comprehensive standpoint, I literally mean I can't make out what he is saying half the time.

[@Platos-Den]

@@casualobserver2380 to completely understand it, you must speak Spit. The Sylvester school of Speach can assist you with this.

[@craiuirinel4103]

@@casualobserver2380 hey man, it will also help with that because zizek has some ideas that he expresses a lot. It will become easier to understand his speech after that. Also, the documentaries are good.

[@Fabzil]

@@craiuirinel4103 Love the comment about the learning curve ^^ Hey Casual, here is how I did it : - I watched and watched and watched videos of him until I could understand his words - then I researched some key points ('cause I know shit about philosophy and hegel and "contingent" and that son of a bitch of Lacan) - I never gave up

[@samfelton5009]

Thanks KZbin for the Italian auto-subtitles 😐

[@ashbirk4681]

Despite how it seems he doesn’t have COVID-19

[@RobertSullivan]

He actually said an interview with HAARETZ newspaper in Israel that he sometimes wishes that he would catch COVID 19... because it would put him out of his misery.

[@caspar_gomez]

ay romantic zizek always gets to me

[@drshohinidas4051]

I don't know who you are but this comment is hella attractive

[@caspar_gomez]

@@drshohinidas4051 aw thanks, I try 😌

[@deadcarnivora8648]

I love the words google translates zizeks speech into 🤭🧕🏼

[@feigerle5416]

watching this on a sunday ... i can feel him and his nose :(((

[@tubespore]

I am becoming more interested in Slavoj ; however when he says "universality"; I draw a blank. that is an abstract term for abstraction; does he mean "equality"(?) Its seems unlikely in the context. It seems doubtful that it is a Kantian style universtality. Its seems his thought centers on this "universtality" but I havent found any explantion for it.

[@madnomad91]

I’d recommend you read Contingency, Hegemony, Universality. Then you’ll understand

[@alexvlair9290]

I thought he was talking about American capitalism as a global cultural reference point... like, white universality would be white people associating their own identity with global capitalism, which stems from American culture but is "for" all nations (meaning it is exported and adopted in one manner or another). They see themselves as the "owners" of this universal culture, meaning they have this element of universality. But I had a bit of trouble understanding this video to be honest, so if anyone has another explanation I'd love to hear it...

[@OddPain]

Morgan Hanam when he talks about „universality“ he refers to Hegels definition (which he considers the purest form) look it up. Hope this helped :D

[@RICHARDGRANNON]

A universally agreed upon perception of an objective unquestionable reality - something like that. It doesn’t allow for relativism

[@codyedwards5827]

Zizek is a Hegelian so any time you see the words "Universal","Particular". "Abstract", "Concrete" its always in the Hegelian Sense. Read Hegel for yourself if you want to understand Hegelian notions

[@inspir.edmusic]

Woah

[@blazearmoru]

Zizek clearly hasn't watched RE:Zero. Rem will completely destroy your question of "why do you love me".

[@laurioho2041]

lmao

[@alymbekdzhanybekuulu99]

When I saw that slogan "Black lives matter" I thought that slogan itself is racist because all representatives of different races and ethnicities are killed by police every year not only black people so if slogan was "Human lives matter or All lives matter" that could be called FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE for all not only for black people. Law matters and despite black,white,yellow etc all people have to be equal in front of law and justice or people think that black people should be treated better than asians, mexicans,native americans and all other races and I think black people are not supreme over the others and should not be. Police men who committed that crime have to be punished not only because they killed black man(that man could be white,mexican,russian,jewish etc) but because they committed a crime having killed human.

[@stevenclark5173]

I don't know if you're from the U.S but I'm guessing no. All Lives Matter is condescending since everyone already agrees on that. The problem is that black people are specifically targeted by law enforcement, they are arrested more, and sentence longer for the same crimes, and police kill them in greater numbers when it seems like they don't have to. Whereas with white folks like Dylan Roof, the somehow manage to deescalate the situation and seem to be less likely to resort to violence. I don't know all the reasons for this but it leads the black community to be scared of police and treat them with distrust.

[@victorgrauer5834]

Typical Zizek. He leads us to believe he's going to say something definitive and then allows himself to get lost in a side issue -- resulting in a hopeless (but nonetheless entertaining) muddle.

[@selfdribblingbasketball9769]

Yeah Victor I think u should just rewatch the video if you didn’t get it

[@davidwuhrer6704]

He didn't get lost in side issues, he was making his point by using references.

[@Phessington]

Blank out the heavy accent and the sniffing, what do you get. A very good analysis . I do like the slur of, word salad Zizek has been accused of.

[@aleksnedovic7985]

but, don't we ourselves on a personal level choose to identify with a certain role? goes for those a person can construct themselves and existing ones. Oh how I miss philosophy lectures and discussions

[@beanbagchair]

​@Nicholas Williams Building on what you said, universality is convenient for adherents to identity politics because it assumes that identity is inborn or absolute, rather than constructed or learned. In Sizek's terms, identity doesn't exist, which I think he means in a material sense - in terms of historical reality. Identity, as a societal phenomenon, is assigned by culture, institutions, and systems. I don't really read or follow Zizek much so I don't know what his tendencies are, but (speaking to what OP said) I assume he is speaking to identity as it's defined by popular consciousness, and not by metaphysics or existentialism. This seems like a snippet from a longer piece so I'm making a lot of assumptions but yeah.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

@@beanbagchair The terms "identity" and "universality" are misused by certain political agents to means something else than the technical terms mean, to give their agenda a veneer of legitimacy. The same is the case for the terms "virtue signaling" and "learned helplessness", which actually mean pretty much the opposite of how they are used by those same political agitators. They did the same with the terms "liberal" and "libertarian".

[@davidwuhrer6704]

I wouldn't say we necessarily _choose_ a certain role. In social contexts, we are put in a role of superior, subordinate, or peer; or we find ourselves in the position of an agent or a patient. What political group we identify with does not define our identity. But our choosing to identify with it defines the group.

[@gaseti]

Definitely just had a bump before this talk. Maybe even during it.

[@harunhernandez]

Identities are limiting

[@pencilkid1123]

yo can I find a video of this guy with half-way decent mic quality???

[@chaidle]

How come this east European guy manage to be aware of everything happening in US? Except for some outsider's position from left leaning ideologists?

[@danakaleb4882]

vos je Central European according to geography.

[@Deliverygirl]

Eastern Europe has had a lot of ethnic struggle and conflict. Ask any person from the Balkans what they think of the current race riots.

[@danakaleb4882]

Deliverygirl You don’t want to know what we think about it.

[@Deliverygirl]

@@danakaleb4882 I think I know already, as echoed from friends from the balkans. As a southern european, it all looks surreal to me. At this point a race war almost seems inevitable, everything has been building up to this for many years now, if something isn't done, it will coalesce into a full blown race war.

[@danakaleb4882]

Deliverygirl Well, Europe never recovered from two world wars. We’re watching fall of Roman Empire once again. Europe is sick and vultures are already gathering to tear it apart. USA is not far behind and sick since the very beginning. Unfortunately, when Roman Empire fell, so did its culture, knowledge, achievements. We entered dark age. Same will happen in near future. Not just civil war, maybe even global war. We have wars, famine, locusts, ‘plague’ even. Signs of times to come. Wheel is turning once again. My heart is sad for our children. Too bad. Stay safe, stay healthy, peace!

[@afacere736]

"Should you ever intend to dull the wits of a young man and to incapacitate his brains for any kind of thought whatever, then you cannot do better than give him Hegel to read. For these monstrous accumulations of words that annul and contradict one another drive the mind into tormenting itself with vain attempts to think anything whatever in connection with them, until finally it collapses from sheer exhaustion. Thus any ability to think is so thoroughly destroyed that the young man will ultimately mistake empty and hollow verbiage for real thought. A guardian fearing that his ward might become too intelligent for his schemes might prevent this misfortune by innocently suggesting the reading of Hegel.”

[@afacere736]

@yvwe 888 Not for a Hegelian, where up is down, left is right, and isonomy is inequality.

[@davidwuhrer6704]

People mistake empty verbiage for real thought without reading Hegel. All self-help books are proof of that.

[@megcook1486]

Someone should subtitle this

[@MrInterestingthings]

Erik Erikson was a unique white man Huey Newton lives forever ! I must read this important thinker but watching him is difficult . Scriabin was like this couldn't sit still says Hoowitz when he met him as a child .

[@louisecook6483]

We are all one race, the Human Race

[@jwhit4075]

Can someone post written text of this whole dialog? Its difficult to understand what he says with the way he speaks

[@jesseperez5185]

This guy is as easy to understand as DMX was back in his coke days.

[@marker794]

Due to the connection of colonization and decolonization there must be something more then one can imagine about connection because as with idea and impression and the contradictions/ ideologys there has to be two things creating that occurence with the connection giving the accursed conciousness an ability to have such choice.🤔

[@justinmartinez5485]

Does anyone know if he’s got a coke problem?

[@troile666]

sure seens like it

[@antihero105]

It's a nervous tick he has that's exasperated from public speaking. SUPER funny tho, pretty sure you're the first to point it out. *slow clap*

[@ANTHONY-xn9dv]

Well if he DOESNT, HE DEFINITELY USED TO!😂😂

[@antihero105]

@@ANTHONY-xn9dv What are you like 10 y/o?