Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Living in the End Times (According to Slavoj Zizek)

I like Zizek, even if he is not the philosophical heavy-weight some people think he is - he's fun and accessible. This lecture is from Zizek's recent book, Living in the Times.

Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek, aka The Elvis of cultural theory, is given the floor to show of his polemic style and whirlwind-like performance.

The Giant of Ljubljana is bombarded with clips of popular media images and quotes by modern-day thinkers revolving around four major issues: the economical crisis, environment, Afghanistan and the end of democracy.

Zizek grabs the opportunity to ruthlessly criticize modern capitalism and to give his view on our common future. We communists are back! is the closing remark of Slavoj Zizeks provocative performance.

Our current capitalist system, that everyone believed would be smoothly spread around the globe, is untenable. We find ourselves on the brink of big problems that call for big solutions.

Whatever is left of the left, has been hedged in by western liberal democracy and seems to lack the energy to come up with radical solutions. Not Zizek.




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