Slavoj Žižek: recommendation

Transcript context

…You are indeed the moderate right Communist, nostalgia-run state Communist who is maybe almost ready to abandon that final bit of the nostalgia. Don’t count on that too much — [laughter] — because I still think that the crisis will hit us. I see signs. Here it comes, my pessimism. I think that the situation today with new right wing, blah, blah, blah. And here, as we already talked about it, I am very open. For example, do they exist here? Not. We talked about it — so-called incels, involuntary celibates. Usually, they are decried as the worst women-hating Fascists. No. They do something, I think, almost tragic. They try to turn their failure — and already this is politically incorrect to state today — “You cannot address a woman, almost it’s prohibited saying she is beautiful.” You cannot say to a man, “You are not attractive enough. You cannot get any woman.” But that’s their experience, and I admire how, without any imminent violence, they turn this into a wonderful performance, especially clowncels and so on. It’s a wonderful way to survive a pretty terrifying predicament. And I don’t buy that they are automatically neofascists. Concerning feminism — my reproach to #MeToo is not they are too radical, but it’s an upper-middle-class fake. They don’t really . . . American feminism should first do — I hope we agree here — a little bit of a good old-fashioned Stalinist — you will say again nostalgia — self-criticism. There are so many things of American feminism. Do you know, for example, they supported American invasion of Iraq, that it will help women? Well, we know today that the situation of women today in Iraq is much worse than under Saddam. Saddam was a brutal despot, but relatively secular. This is what bothers me. Second problem. You will again say I’m conservative here. Fuck it, I don’t care. The problem with political correctness is, for me, that questions which are questions of not manners in a superficial sense, but of customs . . . Here I am, as you know, a Hegelian. Hegel always emphasized the bases that hold society together are unwritten rules, customs, and so on. Political correctness tries too much to legalize it. You know, you are allowed to call this name. For example, let me give you a provocative example to provoke you. Once I problematize . . . How is it called? This idea of consent, even bureaucratic consent — you have to state it on a selfie, sign before mutual agreement. And they say, “Oh, so I think we can rape women. We don’t need consent.” They totally misread me on the opposite. I just claim consent in itself is good, better than nothing, but it doesn’t solve the problem. There is so much pressure, violence which can survive the form of consent. Even if there is a formal consent, sexual exploitation can go on, and so on and so on. My problem with LGBT+ is if I’m attacking them. No! The problem I see there — I wonder if you agree — is this one. I have a problem with identity politics. The problem is that the idea of predominant . . . there are many LGBT+ who are extremely good theorist persons. But the predominant view is the one of this one. have a problem with identity politics. The problem is that the idea of predominant . . . there are many LGBT+ who are extremely good theorist persons. But the predominant view is the one of this one. I simplify it: there is some kind of multiplicity of gender positions flourishing. It’s almost the Maoist version — let the 100 flowers blossom, let 100 books, gender bi-sex, tri-sex. And then evil patriarchy comes, imposes the binary division. “Let’s get rid of this.” And some of them even establish at least 30, 35 positions. My God! And then they say Freud is outdated. If there is anything to learn from Freud, it’s that sexuality is in itself antagonist, traumatic, safety domains, and so on and so on. That’s my first point. What bothers me in LGBT+ . . . it’s as if, if we get rid of social pressure, we get some kind of happy sexuality. The first presupposition that’s at doubt here is because you do what you desire. My God, didn’t they read Freud? How do you know that you really desire what you think that you desire? There are all these ambiguities here. My second problem, and that’s the theoretical one . . . Let’s move into Hegel a little bit. Maybe you know my line. LGBT+ . . . it’s all about “plus,” no? Because the ordinary LGBT theories are, for me, too British empiricist. Plus is, for them, simply, “Maybe we don’t yet know all identities. Let’s leave it open. Maybe there will be other gender identities. We will include them.” No, if I go this . . . I forgot her name, I’m sorry, from an Australian LGBT theorist — very intelligent lady — who wrote to me, “But, what if plus itself is the subjective position? You can be a plus in the sense of, you know, at a distance, doubting.” And I think this is feminine position at its stronger. “I will go to absolutely everyday level.” That’s why the most provocative woman’s answer is, “Why do you love me?” Because there is no answer to this question. The moment you answer it, it’s not true love, by definition. If I tell you why I love you, then it becomes matter of . . . You know? So what I’m saying is that I just try to complicate things.…

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