Slavoj Zizek
SLAVOJ ZIZEK  Macroknow Library
   

First as Tragedy, Then as Farce.

It's Ideology, Stupid!

"But what if "moral hazard" is inscribed into the very structure of capitalism? That is to say, there is no way to separate the two: in the capitalist system, welfare on Main Street depends on a thriving Wall Street. . . To put it in more sophisticated terms, the relationship is non-transitive: while what is good for Wall Street is not necessarily good for Main Street, Main Street cannot thrive if Wall Street is feeling sickly, and this asymmetry gives an a priori advantage to Wall Street."1a

"Incidentally, it is a sign of the maturity of the US Public that there have been no traces of anti-Semitism in their reaction to the financial crisis, although it would have been easy to imagine a reaction such as: "Did you notice how Jews, Jewish financiers, made us hard-working Americans pay $700 billion to cover the cost of their follies!""1b

"Are we thus not gradually approaching a global state in which the potential scarcity of three basic material resources (oil, water, and food) will become the determining factor in international politics? Is not the lack of food -- which makes itself visible in (for the time being) sporadic crises here and there -- one of the signs of the forthcoming apocalypse?"1c

The Communist Hypothesis

"The only true question today is: do we endorse the predominant naturalization of capitalism, or does today's global capitalism contain antagonisms which are sufficiently strong to prevent its indefinite reproduction? There are four such antagonisms: the looming threat of an ecological catastrophe; the inappropriateness of the notion of private property in relation to so-called "intellectual property"; the socio-ethical implications of new techno-scientific developments (especially in biogenetics); and, last but not least, the creation of new forms of apartheid, new Walls and slums. . .
"What the struggles in all these domains share is an awareness of the potential for destruction, up to and including the self-annihilation of humanity itself, should the capitalist logic of enclosing the commons be allowed a free run. . .
"If this sounds apocalyptic, one can only retort that we live in apocalyptic times. . ."1d


   

* Italics in the original.

1 Slavoj Zizek (b. 1949). First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. Slavoj Zizek, 2009. Brooklyn, NY: Verso; New Left Books, 2009.
1. It's Ideology, Stupid!
a Capitalist Socialism, at 13.
b The Structure of Enemy Propaganda, Note at 37.
c Communism, Again!, at 83.
2. The Communist Hypothesis
d The New Enclosure of the Commons, at 90-93.

MK-BOOK-ZIZEK-20110224.