“Democracy” is not merely the “power of, by, and for the people,” it is not enough just to claim that, in democracy, the will and the interests (the two in no way automatically coincide) of the large majority determine the state decisions. Democracy – in the way this term is used today – concerns, above… Continue reading Too Much Democracy
Tag: human rights
Human Rights and Its Discontents
[Delivered at Bard College on November 15th 1999.] Thank you for the kind invitation. Let me go directly to the point: It is a well-known fact that the close-the-door button in most elevators is a totally dysfunctional placebo which is placed there just to give individuals the impression that they are somehow participating, contributing to the speed of… Continue reading Human Rights and Its Discontents
The Superego and the Act
I want to begin with Coca-cola. It’s no surprise that Coca-cola was first introduced as a medicine. Its strange taste seems to provide no particular satisfaction. It is not directly pleasing, however, it is as such, as transcending any use-value, like water, beer or wine, which definitely do quench our thirst, that Coke functions as… Continue reading The Superego and the Act
NATO, the Left Hand of God
On the Self Deception of the West, or Why the Conflict in the Balkans Will Not Come to an End Anytime Soon NATO’s bombing of Yugoslavia is over. It is therefore time to ask what the meaning of this war was. What were its ideological and political consequences? Not long ago, Vaclev Havel maintained (in… Continue reading NATO, the Left Hand of God
