Zizek interview

[joanna bujes]

At 06:00 PM 02/28/2002 -0500, Miles wrote:
>I really liked the stuff at the end of the interview about the
>multicultural "storytelling" ethic, but the bit about smoking
>is dubious at best:
>
>"Let's take the campaign against smoking in the U.S. I think this is a
>much more suspicious phenomenon than it appears to be. First, deeply
>inscribed into it is an idea of absolute narcissism, that whenever you are
>in contact with another person, somehow he or she can infect you. Second,
>there is an envy of the intense enjoyment of smoking. There is a certain
>vision of subjectivity, a certain falseness in liberalism, that comes down
>to 'I want to be left alone by others; I don't want to get too close to
>the others.'"

I agree with Zizek about the anti-smoking campaign but don't really support 
his reasons. I suspect the real forces behind the campaign are the HMO's 
cause, let's face it, smoking costs them money.  But the social backlash is 
also interesting: the anti-smoking campaign serves to focus all the 
anti-toxic sentiment on the action of individuals rather than 
coroporations. Arsenic in the water? Forget it. Estrogen/antibiotics in 
every animal product we consume? OK. Air we can't breathe? Never mind. 
World war III over oil? Sure, why not. BUT SMOKING!!!!! OOoooooh, now 
that's REEEEAL BAD!!!!

I have smoked for twenty four years...quit a year and a half ago...and I 
will attest to the fact that nicotine is bad for you and also that it is 
the most addictive drug I've every used by a level of magnitude...but the 
villification of smokers...while corporate pollution continues unabated, is 
ridiculous.

Joanna