I believe I hate this rat just the right amount, tyvm.
You’re absolutely correct that Zizek’s history is a lot worse than the Quirk Balkan Chungus persona he puts on, and the fact that he’s held in any regard by the Western Left should be an indictment to it, if another one were at all necessary.
That said nothing you’ve listed above is special, beyond whatever stroke of luck allowed him to gain notoriety in western radlib circles. We have a hundred of these contrarian dipshits here in Bulgaria (and the Balkans more broadly). “Joined a student society where he made crude jokes about the party while being a sex pest, then ran for parliament in the 90s, failed and then wrote snarky/shockjock commentary for two decades” is a distinct type of guy around these parts. This is not to excuse his positions - he’s every bit as culpable as all the other self-important class traitors who’ve come and gone since then. But to claim he played a major role is really pushing it. By the time he was on his bullshit the Warsaw pact had fallen deeply into historical nihilism as Xi Jingpin describes:
Why did the Soviet Union disintegrate? Why did the Communist Party of the Soviet Union fall to pieces? An important reason is that in the ideological domain, competition is fierce! To completely repudiate the historical experience of the Soviet Union, to repudiate the history of the CPSU, to repudiate Lenin, to repudiate Stalin was to wreck chaos in Soviet ideology and engage in historical nihilism. It caused Party organizations at all levels to have barely any function whatsoever. It robbed the Party of its leadership of the military. In the end the CPSU—as great a Party as it was—scattered like a flock of frightened beasts! The Soviet Union—as great a country as it was—shattered into a dozen pieces. This is a lesson from the past!
— Xi Jinping, Uphold and Develop Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
The rank and file of the party was filled with careerist opportunists, and the upper echelons were realizing that they could own their own mansions instead of just being allowed to vacation in state-owned ones, if they betrayed the working class. I don’t believe I’m knowledgeable enough to describe all the failures and fault lines that in the end crushed the revolution in the USSR or in the Balkan People’s Republics, but to claim Zizek and grifter intellectuals like him (who weren’t even well placed enough to privatize an industry or five) is just buying into their delusional self-mythology.
I urge you, place those same “achievements” listed above in the mouth of some pussy hat wearing radlib claiming they’re fighting American fascism. How impressive are they really?
I urge you, place those same “achievements” listed above in the mouth of some pussy hat wearing radlib claiming they’re fighting American fascism. How impressive are they really?
I understand your point and agree with it to a large extent, but you are forgetting that Tito’s Yuguslavia was much more democratic and responsive to their citizens desires and had a much more well-read population than the US, so Zizek’s action were probably more influential there than the exact same actions would be in the current US.
There’s being responsive to popular demands and then there’s the grave betrayal of the revolution and the working class we’re paying for to this day. The fact that five decades of our socialist experiment produced vapid intellectual shitheels like him played a major role for sure, but I just don’t buy that he, as a person, was all that important. Too many senior administrators, generals, intelligence officers decided they’d be better served by siding with imperialism and becoming bourgeois. Too many party functionaries looked the other way, or simply saw where the wind blows and decided to run with it.
Even if Zizek had done the decent thing, drank himself into a stupor and drowned in the Ljubljanica back in 1988, I don’t believe for a second that things would have gone any different in the end. He deserves our scorn, but none of our time. Our historical moment is here and now, Zizek is at best a distraction.
I believe I hate this rat just the right amount, tyvm.
You’re absolutely correct that Zizek’s history is a lot worse than the Quirk Balkan Chungus persona he puts on, and the fact that he’s held in any regard by the Western Left should be an indictment to it, if another one were at all necessary.
That said nothing you’ve listed above is special, beyond whatever stroke of luck allowed him to gain notoriety in western radlib circles. We have a hundred of these contrarian dipshits here in Bulgaria (and the Balkans more broadly). “Joined a student society where he made crude jokes about the party while being a sex pest, then ran for parliament in the 90s, failed and then wrote snarky/shockjock commentary for two decades” is a distinct type of guy around these parts. This is not to excuse his positions - he’s every bit as culpable as all the other self-important class traitors who’ve come and gone since then. But to claim he played a major role is really pushing it. By the time he was on his bullshit the Warsaw pact had fallen deeply into historical nihilism as Xi Jingpin describes:
— Xi Jinping, Uphold and Develop Socialism with Chinese Characteristics
The rank and file of the party was filled with careerist opportunists, and the upper echelons were realizing that they could own their own mansions instead of just being allowed to vacation in state-owned ones, if they betrayed the working class. I don’t believe I’m knowledgeable enough to describe all the failures and fault lines that in the end crushed the revolution in the USSR or in the Balkan People’s Republics, but to claim Zizek and grifter intellectuals like him (who weren’t even well placed enough to privatize an industry or five) is just buying into their delusional self-mythology.
I urge you, place those same “achievements” listed above in the mouth of some pussy hat wearing radlib claiming they’re fighting American fascism. How impressive are they really?
I understand your point and agree with it to a large extent, but you are forgetting that Tito’s Yuguslavia was much more democratic and responsive to their citizens desires and had a much more well-read population than the US, so Zizek’s action were probably more influential there than the exact same actions would be in the current US.
There’s being responsive to popular demands and then there’s the grave betrayal of the revolution and the working class we’re paying for to this day. The fact that five decades of our socialist experiment produced vapid intellectual shitheels like him played a major role for sure, but I just don’t buy that he, as a person, was all that important. Too many senior administrators, generals, intelligence officers decided they’d be better served by siding with imperialism and becoming bourgeois. Too many party functionaries looked the other way, or simply saw where the wind blows and decided to run with it.
Even if Zizek had done the decent thing, drank himself into a stupor and drowned in the Ljubljanica back in 1988, I don’t believe for a second that things would have gone any different in the end. He deserves our scorn, but none of our time. Our historical moment is here and now, Zizek is at best a distraction.
Well I still hate him very much and hope he dies