What is freedom today? Slavoj Žižek | Comment Is Free

[@Hannahdabeast]

As soon as Slavoj Zizek starts talking, I smile. God, I love the way this man talks.

[@yogeshniraula7736]

He's a wonderful speaker. Sounds like trying to clean his nose of all the coke he did tho.

[@sids5295]

I am smiling. Slavoj, thank you and so on and so on...

[@DignanDerkin]

i would prefer not to

[@shubhjoshi6205]

@@DignanDerkin yaah, his tshirt is noice

[@ObeySilence]

"The most important form of non-freedom is the non-freedom which is not even perceived as such."

[@valarmorghulis322]

This is one of the reasons that makes "the Dispossessed" of Ursula K. Le Guin, one of the best novels ever. The protagonist questions the freedom itself in an anarchic society, where everyone seems to be totally free.

[@lakantoj]

Real freedom is renouncing to that “false” freedom, self control is freedom, doing without limits is slavery, freedom is taking that harder but higher path that lifts you up.

[@Trisador9]

Whoever thought of these captions should reconsider their life and career choices.

[@gregstark6842]

My GOD

[@sandersj5170]

MY GOTT

[@JordanService]

Offf so salty! I liked it.

Well, in defense of this unknown hero, I must say it is quite hard to translate zizekian lingo...

[@spacedew]

What's so difficult to understand about what he's saying?

[@isidoor2]

the editing of this video is more than non sens. it is an attempt to "ideologize " what is a critique of ideology. the editor must be sent immediatly to goulag

[@frivvybarage7331]

I can seriously no longer read the word "ideology" without reading it in his voice. He has bastardized the word as well as the concept.

[@Soytu19]

isidoor2 do you really understand the concept of ideology proposed by Zizek?

[@sammosaurusrex]

2 years reeducation In all seriousness, I kind of liked the edits, they were fun. What was so bad about then to you

[@joesinclair8910]

My thoughts exactly, theyre purpose seems to be to distract the viewer and give another meaning to the speech. Like "unfreedom is freedom" which they edited in. Its a travesty

[@zoewilliams8615]

Font and colour set giving ne seriously Sainsbury vibes...

[@kartoffelschweinehund9007]

The best thing about this guy is that I can't imagine that there is a topic that he hasn't at least put one thought into it.

[@krister6160]

This man must be appreciated beyond anything.

[@Raidingtime1]

Great idea for a video and a conversation starter! "What is freedom" seems to be an open ended question and depends upon personal beliefs. Thank you for making this video and promoting such an important question.

[@theGuardian]

Thanks Daniel, no problem! We have a new Comment Is Free video coming out every Wednesday at 16:00 (GMT) from now on.

[@DemolitionDustCloud]

I love his shirt.

[@mishababernathy7165]

Bartleby...

[@hoarsepants]

Is there some reason you can't just show the interview? The cutting in and out of view for less than a second for a single word or picture is distracting.

[@Fretonful]

Michael Larson i think it was to cut out his facetouching and nose rubbing. He has a nervous tic that annoys a lot of people and i didnt see it much in this interview.

[@Diegotorres7000]

Because they are aware about how the average viewer doesn't have a long enough attention span.

[@meggrobi]

It's like canned laughter on tv shows. If you're too stupid to get the point they have pictures. The dumbing down of all comment

[@DarkAngelEU]

Teenagers really like this style of editing, because it keeps the video dynamic, so I guess that's their target audience

[@abubardewa939]

Did you let a 9 year old kid sneak in editing room ? 😂

[@EugenAntunGojks]

Slavoj Zizek's inability to stick to one point, and discuss only that one point, never seizes to amaze me.

[@black91ize]

Slavoj is interesting and so on... But the editing tho.

[@semp224]

Spot on

[@Mike_TGL]

Wow, this guy blew my mind. He makes so much sense!

[@mirsad96]

Read Marx. All i have to say.

[@gustavogalvan1768]

@@mirsad96 Read Marx and so on and so on

[@LC-wd5fl]

Native English speakers you don't know how lucky you are with your language! I admire Mr. Zizek, my English is very similar to his, but I am too much afraid to embarrasse myself to speak it freely. 😔

[@jakubwrona2040]

This is brilliant :) One of the most complex and universal comments I've heard for a looong time :)

[@50iraqidinar]

"What is ffschfschzlhreedom today?"

[@MyDenis0]

there is the ability of questioning then there is the quantity of things to question then there is the pure intensity and sincerity with wich we question, i think wisdom requires bravery not just brains. The human soul is more emotional than rational.

[@inoderlulzer5163]

Slavoj Zizek - What is freedom today? Video posted 8 years ago.

[@JG-dr6ge]

The only true freedom that can be experienced by an individual is one which does not limit the freedom of another individual. So any definition of freedom, if it is sustainable, must include the idea of balance or harmony.

[@PalePinkThink]

I actually liked the captions

[@jakubkanna]

Nice T-shirt Slavoj

[@kc0jtl]

So just right off, freedom is to have security? His definition of freedom is very different than mine. Freedom without the right to infringe on others freedom, is still freedom.

[@DigimonExplained]

I believe that freedom has many domains. How free is someone based on his gender, culture, religion,... (I explained it in one of my vids). Soo its not easy to define freedom.

[@riveselliot]

Thought Vicky Leeks was a real person for a sec

[@davidvg4462]

I had an epileptic attack after I saw this, and so on

[@BPOOP1000]

Who knew the voice actor for Sylvester was so based!

[@theGuardian]

What is freedom today? Slavoj Žižek | Comment Is Free ► kzbin.info/www/bejne/i6GzpoeXhZtretk Are we free to live our lives as we want? We might think so, but philosopher Slavoj Žižek argues that this apparent freedom is actually governed by a complex series of conditions. For Žižek, a 'pathetic, old romantic', the highest form of freedom is in fact love. Subscribe to The Guardian ► bit.ly/subscribegdn #slavoj #slavojzizek #philosophy #love #freedom

[@BryanMordt]

Interesting.

[@theGuardian]

Bryan Mordt Yasmine separovic Thank you to both of you!

[@MaureenMurphy238]

Try this out. "What is freedom but the ability to reclaim your Knowledge, which is your destiny and your heritage? That is all that freedom is for. Without Knowledge you are in bondage to your own thoughts, and you are in bondage to the forces in this world.Your personal freedom is useless and painful here.What has it given you? Trial and error is a very poor learning device. It is very slow and difficult and is necessary only to a point. Your freedom now is the freedom to pursue Knowledge, which offers the only freedom there is because it recalls to you your Spiritual Family. It recalls to you your commitment for coming into the world. It recalls to you your destiny, and you begin to see your life as continuous, not just conceptually but really continuous. All of a sudden the world that was so difficult and intimidating does not have quite so much weight. It is not quite so terrifying now. Here you realize that you are only free to participate in life.What is individual freedom if it does not lead to full participation in what life really is?" This is an excerpt from Wisdom from the Greater Community, How to Live with Certainty, Strength & Wisdom in an Emerging World, Volume One

[@AbdulghaniDMusa]

The real and true freedom does not exist in our hearts, thoughts and mind any more in our time, we human have been over exploited and deprived the truth and driven away from the real FREEDOM, WHICH IS NOT MORE OR LESS THAN FREEDOM FROM EVIL, that's the only way to enjoy freedom.

[@britsh_weather_has_bipolar8199]

Maureen Murphy Are you a Budhist? You write of our 'spiritual family' so I assume you believe in the existence of the 'spirit'. Some part of us, essence perhaps that is incorporeal, is that correct?

[@mephesh]

Im so glad he said the banana peel story, I was hoping for it and wow, there it is. It never gets old for me. Love you Zizek

[@idea_list7779]

sounds like he's speaking and licking peanut butter at the same time

[@abcq2]

my left ear found this very interesting

[@fh-cn5io]

what is freedom...it's nothing but relative, who is to decide what is false or true freedom for me...unless he is either the architect of me or freedom or both.

[@형민김-w9g]

disparate ideas are just put together under the term "love". I don't like the way he goes through each topic, because he often vaults from this to that without any stepping stone. 1. free from terror, hunger, and etc. : basic existential rights legitimate working government bodies are needed : no anarchy 2. free from unknown influence from powerful elites or unintended glitches from long lasting system : basic economic rights ex) wikileaks 3. free to embrace risk for or to bear the burden of committing to someone who you choose ex) romantic relationship

[@bdstudios6088]

I like his conversational storytelling sprinkled with anecdotes. Much more interesting than a lecture. But you organized his ideas well, thanks for the summary!

[@winterphilosophy3900]

So freedom can only be obtained with happily voluntary sacrifices ❤

[@mrgeringer]

This is pretty heavy.

[@bencarter919]

Forgive me if I use the term loosely or tendentiously but, in my opinion, freedom would be reporting on the revolution in Mexico, the feminist protest in Barcelona, the now quite painstakingly flagrant anomalies that abound the 'official' stories of recent historical events. Freedom is having the journalistic integrity to go against the status quo, overcome cynically stigmatised language that an undergraduate with a passing interest in logic could, and genuinely try to seek the 'truth' of things as best you can. Though I do often read your paper I'd like to let you know that, broadly speaking, I consider you an 'enemy'; an enemy who, as I'm sure most of your staff know (and I assume Zizek must do too, hence the T-shirt) forgoes documenting the now undeniably terrifying iceberg beneath the water, and instead syphons carefully contained dissidence (or anti-dissidence) that momentarily satisfies our relatively weak drive for subversion. Anyway some of you do seem alright but until you have the guts to actually tell us what this bunch are quite nonchalantly doing (and have been for a pretty long time) it's difficult for me to respect you.

[@jsquire5pa]

Ben Carter what on earth does this mean?

[@martijnheil8825]

@@jsquire5pa Guess I'm late to the party, but freedom is timeless anyway, oh well. I interpreted this as basically saying; Zizek does too much high-level philosophizing and too little practical talking, thus merely temporarily statisfying the drive for what would otherwise go into resistance. Zizek once said "Don't act, just think". I think, for the original poster the opposite is desired: "Don't think, just act". In short, action instead of meaningless thinking. That's what I think he's aiming at. I don't really agree with this post then either.

[@lychees33]

Slavoj Zizek is a great philosopher You.................know. and so on and so on

[@rrutherford69]

I like Slavoj, but I find this discussion very incoherent, firstly he talks about the state regulating certain bodies and implying Berlin's idea of negative freedom, i.e. I don't need to worry about traffic accidents as the freedom to drive like a maniac has been sacrificed by having lights. Then he discusses the trade services agreement and talks about how some our choices are illusory in regards to who is controlling goods and services, yet in a communist planned economy we would still have to rely on some central authority to give us what we hope are goods and services we desire. I don't think this solves any notion of freedom. He highlights this idea further by stating that love involves certain sacrifice as should freedom, yet it is unpredictable, which is a problematic comparison as choices can be presented (by an authority, state capitalism and state communism) so as to lull us into a sense of making a free choice in an uncertain world. Finally he concludes with a questioning the basis of everything including freedom is critical to freedom, I agree with this point, however this is a positive freedom statement - freedom to .... like the unbridled freedom of the most powerful, the freedom to question everything can lead to getting lost in a sea of endless recursive thought, the ability to disengage and take certain aspects of the world as given, is the sacrifice we make when questioning anything...

[@DinethCat]

Shailendra Rathore Socialism is the worse system you could have to have freedom! If he says Capitalism lacks freedom, then socialism or communism only has less of it not more. I think capitalism already has elements of socialism in it, like we aren't free to chose do to anything we like even in occupations or jobs. Its already determined by the forces of demand and supply of labor. For example; you could have a degree in Fine arts, or philosophy; and painting or else questioning thinks and theorizing about them may be what you really want to do and what makes you happy but that's not going to get you a job now isn't it. (At least in most economies) So no, we don't have total freedom. not economically not even socially. We can't go naked on the street just for the heck of it! We are still bound by social norms. And I think this is as good as the system could get. What else would you have as the yardstick for an economic system other than the "greater good of society".

[@martijnheil8825]

Marshmallow920 To such strange conclusions you can only come if you blindly equate socialism to the purest form of nonfreedom

[@mihavatovec5770]

I hope that watching Zizek or others,new philosophers will born and by taking serious their work we will be all abble to live in a better world

[@motoquasi]

Editor of this video has too much freedom.

[@Irisphotojournal]

My English teacher would say "You can use any colour of ink you like, as long as it's Black" Our choices in the system are nothing more than predetermined options, anything else is Thought Crime. My natural tendency is to tell people FO a lot, as I make my own rules..

[@guyfroml]

I'm not sure if Zizek realizes what a major (and concerning) contradiction he stated. On the one hand he talks about freedom and what he perceives it to be, BUT then (in the very beginning) he says he "would like the state (government) taking care of things only without my choice, but even without me knowing about it." Hmmm. I wonder if he realizes how dangerous that it by entrusting those in government with the decision making power to rule over one's life and decide "which freedoms you can and cannot have." He makes further contradiction by raising an issue with (let's call them) international financial institutions making exchanges and transactions "behind closed doors" without our ever knowing about them, yet he has no problem with giving that same freedom and power to the state (government).

[@sidartavader3497]

"Question everything" Why? :)

[@garystuk9408]

I've always found the laws of the bible to be ideals and warnings. "You shall die if you do not rest every now and then and work your entire life." "In an ideal world there is no death. One day YOU SHALL NOT KILL." "Homosexuality has a shocking amount of negative effects. Don't get involved in it." "If all neighbors dare for eachother, that solves basically every life problem. Try it sometime." I have a hard time understanding why the church gets so much hate. We say what is right. We say what humanity clearly cannot comprehend on its own. And we do these things in spite of all consequences. To prosecute us only proves that humanity is against the very teachings of a man who was either a mad man or the son of god

[@garystuk9408]

Footnote: care for eachother. Not dare

[@BKSF1]

explain in full with a numbered list the "shocking" number of negative effects

[@theGuardian]

It's Wednesday, so we have another Comment is Free video coming at 16:00. In case you missed it, here's Slavoj Žižek asking: "What is Freedom Today?" ► is.gd/zizekcif Subscribe to The Guardian ► bit.ly/subscribegdn #freedom #love #philosophy

[@johnhaynes4913]

Good stuff.

[@mijakmayiik1382]

good look

[@darkmatter4132]

The highest form of freedom is love here I am a pathetic old romantic Slavoj Zizek, 2014

[@MouAresounTaPneusta]

It's not a fall, it's a landing.

[@mashuq137]

i love this man.

[@thefasco4424]

A video narrated by Zizek cannot be longer than 5min

[@Pe6ek]

Love can be a prison, man.

[@cryptoffilth8711]

The four walls of my freedom.

[@kzr_1613]

Dats the fall, he talked about talking a risk without being afraid of the consequences

[@not2tees]

Zizek scores with this one.

[@jamahiriya7528]

I would prefer not to.

[@theGuardian]

Slavoj Žižek: What is freedom today? Now with captions.

[@SebastianWeil]

Really inspiring comment!

[@theGuardian]

Something tells me you're not being entirely serious there Sebastian.

[@l1eless]

i dont understand "fall" in this

[@gregtipton5347]

freedom and living inside gods moral laws you don't want everything done for you,especially when it's not what YOU want

[@galenvanbrok]

slavog zizeck is like stockhausen with a piano

[@sublimeister9630]

By the way that "switch"is due to MKultra programming--accustomed to Cymatics frequency, they can literally control your motor functions by zapping you and make you trip while walking.

[@keniangervo8417]

Slavoj has a lot to talk about which is one of the reasons I look up to him. He will not run out of words to the point of overwhelming the listener/interviewer/whatever. The bombardment of Slavoj's great verbal, focused strikes of information is astonishing. Also I respect him for being a very fluent speaker. He has a great vocabulary even though he is Slovenian. Okay, so the question here is "what is freedom (to you)?" My answer shall follow. Freedom as a word brings to my mind surpassing the limitations of what we are as a human species. That means, and includes what Slavoj was talking about, reproduction. I'm talking about freedom from a human perspective. Our way of living will become more optimal and better as time goes by. So freedom also means patience. Patience and hope. Hope, that tomorrow will be better for our children, our grandchildren our grandgrandgrand...children. I believe people's social and moral skills, in general, will develop step by step slowly as time goes forward. And as these skills get higher, people will be "more free". People will learn. People can surpass the limitations set to us. And by limitations I go as far as physical and mental states in which humans live in. Our body is not really free. We have aches, pain and sorrow which could be fixed in a far far future. Human emotions of course are important but think about depression and panic attacks. I'm sure people would be better off without them. I'm talking very precisely and concretely here, but I think that's exactly the way to go with this idea of mine. Think about the movie 'Transcendence' (Johnny Depp's new movie). I think that's a great way of thinking about freedom, even though the movie itself may or may not be as accurate as to what I'm talking about here. Love, which Slavoj presents here as the ultimate kind of righteous freedom, is just a part of the freedom I'm talking about here. Love is important.

[@TheOverlordFrost]

At the start I thought to myself that this is a joke , till I actually started listening to what he had to say. Interesting (Y)

[@lemonbalm86]

he's truly a comedian as well

[@CUMBICA1970]

Freedom to love yes. Buuuut the problem is, your love interest has the freedom of choice.

[@ThaleiaFantasy]

True love is a collaboration.

[@blankiai]

Slavoj Žižek, if you make me believe in love?

[@yuhboi_ratmann]

Did they make a quota for the video editor to impose a graphic every 10 seconds? It looks so forced

[@alexhomealone4333]

Love without fall? I'm not sure what he means

[@ruebadly_muzak970]

Look at his big think video called our fear of falling in love

[@anselme198]

you can translate it to "love without implication".

[@Faiz9163]

Every time he touches his nose, they add those graphics to hide it

[@guilhermehl]

The unique comunist to go to the guardian

[@2wheels1trackmind]

Thanks for sharing this I'm hoping people stop following an start waking up

[@o.3464]

He's told this story in four different videos

[@poulamipradhan3169]

I have been working with you

[@omart204]

*Anarchy* is complete freedom. Don't bother debating whether or not anarchy will help humanity, the question is 'What is freedom" not "What will help humanity"....keep in mind that freedom doesn't necessarily = prosperity (maybe it does, but there is only one way to find out). Maybe anarchy is good, maybe its bad, maybe it doesn't fall into either category.

[@cymrurydd330]

depends on what forms of anarchy - left libertarianism maybe best for the collective species

[@frivvybarage7331]

Anarcho-capitalism or anarcho-communism? See, Marxist idea of freedom is the freedom from private property and class struggle which dehumanizes human interaction, not from state oppression. A communist will want to achieve his ends through dictatorial means because a communist thinks that the only way to achieve communism is through political activity and state regulation, whereas an anarcho-communist such as Bakunin would firstly want to abolish the state before he abolishes private property and classes.

[@Fabzil]

Anarchy is false freedom. If it's true anarchy (and not anomy), then your neighbour can choose to slice your throat with a knife and your freedom to live a long and happy life with your wife will not happens

[@trotskyeraumpicareta4178]

Fabzil what you described is not anarchy... I mean, in the sense people normally use it is, but it is only used to paint anarchy as a bad thing. Anarchy is the complete decentralization of economic and political power. It is one of the various ideas that we call "socialism", because its objective is equality of means, which would lead to equality of power, and consequentially freedom, since no one would be above anyone else. If anarchy meant basically "no laws", then there would be no need to write hundreds of books theorizing it. I would recommend reading at least "What is Property?" and "The Federative Principle" (both by Proudhon) to start understanding how anarchist ideas were first formed. They're not very long books (the second is more like a short text) and they're really easy to read.

[@Fabzil]

And you should read my comment again and look on internet about what is anomy

[@jakubkowalczyk3310]

The video was cool and so on, but why are there so many distracting graphics and texts? Slavoj is enough

[@TheSima168]

you are free, to do as we tell you.

[@kazikian]

Where can I get this shirt?

[@utekogoj2979]

Freedom is meaningless if it is not based on the truth. The highest form of truth is in Art.

[@TheBENGAVIN]

I think like him too in a large part because of the cultural fascination w his et al.’s provoking ideas yet know that w all he says that I am free, please move out of my way you are blocking the sun Zizek.

[@theboringuynextdoor3903]

Where can I get that shirt

[@willbeeker898]

Bartleby the Scrivner shirt!!

[@sublimeister9630]

Damn, I felt a switch in my head, and I almost fell. 😀 The other side of Freedom is "OSHO - Marriage and Children."

[@therubixtesseract]

pre determined choice.. this is a Spinozist thought

[@miguiprytoluk]

WHAT ISH FREEDOM TODAY?

[@unregierbar7694]

I prefer freedom that is only restricted by the NAP.

[@m.f.3347]

lol

[@albertoamoruso7711]

Head-Explosion

[@chrissermoon4156]

The man is insane

[@freedomsorator2217]

"All you need is love" because love is all and love is freedom. and you can't control and buy love.:))

[@frivvybarage7331]

"Love: is a more ambiguous and misunderstood concept than freedom. It's even possible that love is a purely social construct which has no bearing on metaphysical understanding of social sciences.

[@endikamartinezgutierrez6899]

What about compatibilism?. Free choices don´t have to be predetermined. Basic philosophical knowledge.

[@tonhommer]

Lost ie. i lost every loss by admitting that although that was not my best idea, i did it.

[@mishababernathy7165]

But... Bartleby would prefer not to...

[@ExploreLearnEnglishWithGeorge]

Two ideas for Slavoj. 1.) Speech Therapy , 2.) Accent Reduction C'mon, it's going to make your message land better and it would only take you a couple of months of effort to rid yourself of this impediments...

[@Funny97451]

"the highest form of freedom is love" ambiguous, love has so many forms ethical and non-ethical so what kind of love exactly?

[@user-jl2mv3st7c]

The one you don't plan for.

[@DarkAngelEU]

He explains it rather well. Selfless love seems to be the highest form of freedom for Žižek, because it benefits yourself and others as opposed to radical freedom, where people just give into their power fantasies.

[@vovavictorov3832]

free

[@princet52]

I like the T shirt print's reference to Herman Melville's Bartleby. I prefer not to. 😂

[@wickedarctiinae4132]

"Gan Grapes"

[@MacrobianNomad]

Freedom under the rule of Capital is Bentham.

[@patricka.crawley6572]

Did he describe islam or Ethic-cleansing Nationalists?

[@luisantolafrancis519]

So j peterson thinks the same "its not posible realization witout a compromise " not posible freedom without fall in love and surrender to the other Taking responsabilility is the only freedom the other choise is the one of peter pan the eternal adolecescence. In wich is omly posible the developement of consumerism in the way the sistem conduces us the forever need of some thing that can not be satisfied .. When you surrender to love and so to responsability your anxiety declines and your true self express in gratitude not in greif for what you dont have because you have chose your path your freedom then is complete ... Interesting proposition so theres no diference between totalitarian and democratic regimes in by themselfs as a perception of happynes or a proyection of self developement . As always the answers are inside us not in the conditioning of the enviroment . Nevertheless in the other hand we can only teorizate about theese matters from a occidental and democratic capitalist presumption.. Eurocentrist as zizek says.

[@theGuardian]

What is freedom to you?

[@danthomas8428]

Being able to criticize Religion without receiving death threats.

[@Nawroz770]

Danny Boy i dont have this freedom where i live

[@danthomas8428]

Nawroz Let me guess. You live in the Middle East?

[@Nawroz770]

Danny Boy yes i am

[@danthomas8428]

Nawroz Which country?

[@magnamia]

Interesting talk, but all these animated slides made it seem like a high-school lesson. Plz!

[@Donaldo]

Guardian is watering its drinks :(