Luca Del Baldo’s portrait of Zizek. It really captures the spittle, don’t you think?
 
I really like Slavoj Žižek. I get that a lot of Leftists think he’s more flash than philosopher, but maybe the left needs a little theater now and then. The Elvis of Cultural Theory? Okay. Maybe those three-hour Noam Chomsky lectures have just lost their luster for me.

No matter your opinion of Žižek’s public persona, First As Tragedy, Then As Farce and Living in the End Times are incredibly engaging, thought-provoking reads.

This interview came out in May, and I’m not sure how I missed it—the bit about never watching the movies he critiques is pretty classic. Most importantly though, he thinks Canada should invade the US and force us to do Hunger Games. I got yer ideology right here!
 

 
A statement from Marxist intellectual Slavoj Žižek on the Pussy Riot trial
 

The True Blasphemy

Pussy Riot members accused of blasphemy and hatred of religion? The answer is easy: the true blasphemy is the state accusation itself, formulating as a crime of religious hatred something which was clearly a political act of protest against the ruling clique. Recall Brecht’s old quip from his Beggars’ Opera: “What is the robbing of a bank compared to the founding of a new bank?” In 2008, Wall Street gave us the new version: what is the stealing of a couple of thousand of dollars, for which one goes to prison, compared to financial speculations that deprive tens of millions of their homes and savings, and are then rewarded by state help of sublime grandeur? Now, we got another version from Russia, from the power of the state: What is a modest Pussy Riot obscene provocation in a church compared to the accusation against Pussy Riot, this gigantic obscene provocation of the state apparatus which mocks any notion of decent law and order?

Was the act of Pussy Riot cynical? There are two kinds of cynicism: the bitter cynicism of the oppressed which unmasks the hypocrisy of those in power, and the cynicism of the oppressors themselves who openly violate their own proclaimed principles. The cynicism of Pussy Riot is of the first kind, while the cynicism of those in power — why not call their authoritarian brutality a Prick Riot — is of the much more ominous second kind.

Back in 1905, Leon Trotsky characterized tsarist Russia as “a vicious combination of the Asian knout and the European stock market.” Does this designation not hold more and more also for the Russia of today? Does it not announce the rise of the new phase of capitalism, capitalism with Asian values (which, of course, has nothing to do with Asia and everything to do with the anti-democratic tendencies in today’s global capitalism). If we understand cynicism as ruthless pragmatism of power which secretly laughs at its own principles, then Pussy Riot are anti-cynicism embodied. Their message is: IDEAS MATTER. They are conceptual artists in the noblest sense of the word: artists who embody an Idea. This is why they wear balaclavas: masks of de-individualization, of liberating anonymity. The message of their balaclavas is that it doesn’t matter which of them got arrested — they’re not individuals, they’re an Idea. And this is why they are such a threat: it is easy to imprison individuals, but try to imprison an Idea!

The panic of those in power — displayed by their ridiculously excessive brutal reaction — is thus fully justified. The more brutally they act, the more important symbol Pussy Riot will become. Already now the result of the oppressive measures is that Pussy Riot are a household name literally all around the world.

It is the sacred duty of all of us to prevent that the courageous individuals who compose Pussy Riot will not pay in their flesh the price for their becoming a global symbol.

—Slavoj Žižek

 
Al Jazeera’s Riz Khan asks Slavoj Žižek, “the Elvis of Philosophy” about climate change, Obama’s handling of the BP oil spill, if a classless society can exist, the need for a social safety net and if we’re about to see the end of the liberal capitalist system.

Žižek is really on fire here. It’s one of the best interviews I’ve seen with him and Khan is a sympathetic, intelligent interviewer (one of the best in the business, I think)

Slavoj Žižek’s latest book is Less Than Nothing: Hegel and the Shadow of Dialectical Materialism. You can see more of Riz Khan’s interviews on Al Jazeera English and YouTube (which has a live Al Jazeera English feed, check it out).
 

 
First there was Werner Herzog hating on chickens making the rounds on the Internet, now we have Slavoj Žižek hating on tulips. Hey Mr. Žižek, what did tulips ever do to you?

My relationship towards tulips is inherently Lynchian. I think they are disgusting. Just imagine. Aren’t these some kind of, how do you call it, vagina dentata, dental vaginas threatening to swallow you? I think that flowers are something inherently disgusting. I mean, are people aware what a horrible thing these flowers are? I mean, basically it’s an open invitation to all insects and bees, “Come and screw me,” you know? I think that flowers should be forbidden to children.

 
Via Nerdcore