Over past few days I've been reading "First as Tragedy, Then as Farce" by Slavoj Zizek (Verso Books, NY, 2009). It was lent to me by Christina Stojanova.
Notes: page 6: "Truth is partial, accessible only when one takes sides"
Page 13: "in a supreme irony, 'socializing' the banking system is acceptable when it serves to save capitalism. Socialism is bad - except when it serve3s to stabilize capitalism".
Page 20, "the danger is thus that the predominent narrative of the meltdown will be the one which, instead of awakening us from a dream, will enable us to continue dreaming".
Page 21, Marx wrote that bourgeois ideology loves to historicize: every social, religious, an cultural form is historical, contingent, relative -- every form except its own." (reference for Mr. Saul)
Page 25, "Capitalism ... needs no ideological justification because its success is itself sufficient justification. In this regard, capitalism "is the opposite of socialism, which as a manual": "Capitalism is a system which has no philosophical pretensions, which is not in search of happiness". .
"Sorman claims ... that people always need to entertain dreams of impossible perfection"
Page 37, "The contemporary era constantly proclaims itself as post-ideological, but this denial of ideology only provides the ultimate proof that we are more than every embedded in ideology.
Page 44, "... the problematic of false 'humanization' to the very basic collective form of 'telling stories about ourselves' to the symbolic texture which provides the foundation of a community.... identity politics ... the ultimate horizon is that the tolerance and intermingling of such identities ... cuts across the entire field, is rejected as oppressive.
Page 52, "postmodern age defined by post 1968 economic/capitalism
Page 53-54, Starbucks sells you its lifestyle, environmental concerns etc along with its coffee.
Page 54, "happiness studies"
Page 59, "permissions masked as rights, they do not change the distribution of power".
Page 61, "populism is ... re-active ... aversion of the politics of fear".
Notes: page 6: "Truth is partial, accessible only when one takes sides"
Page 13: "in a supreme irony, 'socializing' the banking system is acceptable when it serves to save capitalism. Socialism is bad - except when it serve3s to stabilize capitalism".
Page 20, "the danger is thus that the predominent narrative of the meltdown will be the one which, instead of awakening us from a dream, will enable us to continue dreaming".
Page 21, Marx wrote that bourgeois ideology loves to historicize: every social, religious, an cultural form is historical, contingent, relative -- every form except its own." (reference for Mr. Saul)
Page 25, "Capitalism ... needs no ideological justification because its success is itself sufficient justification. In this regard, capitalism "is the opposite of socialism, which as a manual": "Capitalism is a system which has no philosophical pretensions, which is not in search of happiness". .
"Sorman claims ... that people always need to entertain dreams of impossible perfection"
Page 37, "The contemporary era constantly proclaims itself as post-ideological, but this denial of ideology only provides the ultimate proof that we are more than every embedded in ideology.
Page 44, "... the problematic of false 'humanization' to the very basic collective form of 'telling stories about ourselves' to the symbolic texture which provides the foundation of a community.... identity politics ... the ultimate horizon is that the tolerance and intermingling of such identities ... cuts across the entire field, is rejected as oppressive.
Page 52, "postmodern age defined by post 1968 economic/capitalism
Page 53-54, Starbucks sells you its lifestyle, environmental concerns etc along with its coffee.
Page 54, "happiness studies"
Page 59, "permissions masked as rights, they do not change the distribution of power".
Page 61, "populism is ... re-active ... aversion of the politics of fear".
