[lbo-talk] feeling good

Michael Pollak mpollak at panix.com
Mon Nov 22 11:41:37 PST 2010


On Mon, 22 Nov 2010, Slavoj Zizek was quoted saying:


> "Incidentally, I still have a sympathy for [Obama], so if you ask me,
> frankly I don't like Tariq Ali's book on Obama, and I share this
> dislike with Alain Badiou.... Now here comes the paradox. I agree with
> [Ali's] analysis of Obama, how he's not [a socialist]. But fuck him,
> what did he expect: that Obama will be a communist/socialist president
> or what? It's fundamentally a useless book, I claim. You see, it makes
> us feel good. This is what I want to avoid: 'Oh, a big leftist comes
> and demonstrates that Obama didn't come and do the socialist
> revolution.' It's so cheap; it just confirms your feeling good."
>
> http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/2010/11/slavoj-zizek-violence-revisited/

Zizek is clearly still polishing this shtick. It's a variant of one of his classic standbys: I refuse to be a member of any club that would have me. He'll eventually get it to the point where it's funny.

Rebecca Mead wrote a great article on Zizek as commedian called _The Marx Brother_ that IMHO completely nails his public speaking persona. It's available in the archive for all New Yorker subscribers:

http://archives.newyorker.com/?i=2003-05-05#folio=038

If you're not a subscriber but are interested, contact me offline I'll set up a workaround.

Michael



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