Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”? Part I

Should the left's answer to rightist populism really be a 'Me Too' - Part I

The latest trend in the vagaries of Leftist politics is the weird movement of MeToo. The Left, however, should learn from the rise of Rightist populism, because WeToo can play the populist game… We are repeatedly told that Left populism is de facto winning and it works. But where and how does it work? Everywhere where it… Continue reading Should the left’s answer to rightist populism really be a “Me Too”? Part I

Ideology Is the Original Augmented Reality

How we fill gaps in our everyday experiences. Released in July 2016, Pokémon Go is a location-based, augmented-reality game for mobile devices, typically played on mobile phones; players use the device’s GPS and camera to capture, battle, and train virtual creatures (“Pokémon”) who appear on the screen as if they were in the same real-world… Continue reading Ideology Is the Original Augmented Reality

Is Lacan An Anti-Philosopher? (2/3 – Slavoj Žižek) + transcript

[Transcript by Thomas Matthews below video.] Difficult to follow, I hope you hear me, glad to be here, glad to be with Alain. Of course in this 20 minute form it’s just a little bit too little time to really develop a line of thought- all one can do is more trace, define positions, oppositions,… Continue reading Is Lacan An Anti-Philosopher? (2/3 – Slavoj Žižek) + transcript

The Sexual is Political

The Sexual is Political

Segregated toilet doors are today at the center of a big legal and ideological struggle. On March 29, 2016, a group of 80 predominantly Silicon Valley-based business executives, headlined by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook, signed a letter to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory denouncing a law that prohibits transgender people… Continue reading The Sexual is Political

Sexuality in the Posthuman Age

[Appeared in Stasis 2016, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 54-69 – pdf] It is the profound distrust of sexual love that is the main feature of Platonov’s work throughout the 1920s. His great novels from this period—Chevengur and especially The Foundation Pit—are usually interpreted as a critical depiction of Stalinist utopia and its disastrous consequences.… Continue reading Sexuality in the Posthuman Age

Slavoj Zizek: Am I a Philosopher?

International Zizek Studies Conference

[Delivered at International Žižek Studies Conference on May 27th 2016. Download .pdf] In his perspicuous review of the volume [amazon asin=0822358913&text=Repeating Žižek], dedicated to my work, Jamil Khader notes how some contributors interrogate “Žižek’s credentials as a philosopher, especially in relation to Badiou’s critique of Lacan’s anti-philosophical position. Hamza points out, in fact, that philosophers who… Continue reading Slavoj Zizek: Am I a Philosopher?

The Sublime Object of Ideology (Preface)

The Sublime Object of Ideology

The Idea’s Constipation? When a discipline is in crisis, attempts are made to change or supplement its theses within the terms of its basic framework – a procedure one might call ‘Ptolemization’ (since when data poured in which clashed with Ptolemy’s earth-centred astronomy, his partisans introduced additional complications to account for the anomalies). But the… Continue reading The Sublime Object of Ideology (Preface)

A Cup of Decaf Reality

[amazon asin=B00005JMHB&text=The Real Cancun] (2003), the first ever “reality movie,” follows sixteen people together for eight days in a beachfront Cancun villa for the ultimate Spring Break vacation. The movie which was advertised with “NO SCRIPTS. NO ACTORS. NO RULES. ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN ON SPRING BREAK, AND IT DID.”, fared rather poorly at the box-office… Continue reading A Cup of Decaf Reality

The Matrix, or, the two sides of perversion

[Delivered at the Inside the Matrix: International Symposium at the Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, on October 28th 1999.] When I saw The Matrix at a local theatre in Slovenia, I had the unique opportunity of sitting close to the ideal spectator of the film – namely, to an idiot. A man in the late 20ies… Continue reading The Matrix, or, the two sides of perversion

Ecology against Mother Nature: Slavoj Žižek on Molecular Red

Ecology against Mother Nature: Slavoj Žižek on Molecular Red

On November 28, 2008, Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, issued a public letter titled “Climate Change: Save the Planet from Capitalism”. Here are its opening statements: Sisters and brothers: Today, our Mother Earth is ill. … Everything began with the industrial revolution in 1750, which gave birth to the capitalist system. In two and… Continue reading Ecology against Mother Nature: Slavoj Žižek on Molecular Red