The material Slavoj Zizek discusses in this animated lecture is (not surprisingly, given its title) primarily from First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, published in 2009 by Verso. However, the topic of philanthro-capitalism is also found in Zizek’s (lesser read) Violence, published in 2008 as part of Picador’s brilliant and aesthetically pleasing BIG IDEAS//small books series. An excerpt:
“Good old Andrew Carnegie employed a private army brutally to suppress organised labour in his steelworks and then distributed large parts of his wealth to educational, artistic, and humanitarian causes. A man of steel, he proved he had a heart of gold. In the same way, today’s liberal communists give away with one hand what they first took with the other. This brings to mind a chocolate laxative available in the U.S. It is publicised with the paradoxical injunction: ‘Do you have constipation? Eat more of this chocolate!’ In other words, eat the very thing that causes constipation in order to be cured of it.”
Why do we buy Starbucks, Tom's shoes, or Organic Apples? What is the hypocrisy of buying these things?
Do you agree or disagree with what Mr. Zizek is saying? Is charity good or bad? Why?
No comments:
Post a Comment