=== http://books.guardian.co.uk/lrb/articles/0,6109,761903,00.html
In 1917, fighting against the tide of Bolshevik opinion, Lenin claimed that there is no 'proper time' for revolution, simply emerging opportunities which must be seized [...] As Alain Badiou has said, whereas the 19th century was characterised by utopian or 'scientific' projects and ideals which were to be fulfilled in the future, the 20th aimed at delivering the thing itself, at realising the longed-for New Order. The ultimate and defining experience of the 20th century was the direct experience of the real as distinct from everyday social reality - the real, in its extreme violence, is the price to be paid for peeling off the deceiving layers of reality. [...] Another example would be the hardcore websites that allow you to observe the inside of a vagina from the vantage point of a tiny camera at the tip of a penetrating dildo. When one gets too close to the desired object, erotic fascination turns into disgust at the real of the bare flesh. ===
Whoah, this guy Slavoj Zizek really does his homework. It's amazing the things you have to research to understand "Lacan's idea of the real". I don't think I can really grasp what Lacan says (actually I never have, but Noam Chomsky wrote me a letter once where he said he doesn't know what the hell Lacan or Foucault are talking about either so I don't feel so bad) until I get a look at these "hardcore websites that allow you to observe the inside of a vagina from the vantage point of a tiny camera at the tip of a penetrating dildo". Unfortunately Slavoj, despite his research, fails to provide a link in his footnotes. Perhaps someone can proffer me his e-mail address, or if you are buddies with Slavoj, ask him and send it to the list so we can all, if we want to, check this out and get a better idea of what Lacan's idea of the real is. Geez, I've been on the net for over a decade and have seen all kinds of strange stuff, but I never even heard of this much less saw it.
"When one gets too close to the desired object, erotic fascination turns into disgust at the real of the bare flesh." Huh? Isn't this what Freud calls projection? Just because Zizek is scared of his girlfriend's pee-pee doesn't mean I am.
-- Lance
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