Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbors: Against the Double Blackmail

Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbors: Against the Double Blackmail by Slavoj Zizek

This book was written in response to the French nightclub terrorist attacks. Many of the refugee populations are fleeing an area where terror is a "normal" activity. They may seek out the benefits of a culture like Norway. However, they can never find it. It is an ideal that doesn't exist in the world. They also likely only want parts of it. 

The terrorists and the anti-immigrants have some in common. The end result of the activities is similar. It is our duty to work together to help others rather than isolate. We can try to hide from other problems, but they will still exist until they can be resolved.

Pandemic! & Pandemic! 2: COVID-19 Shakes the World & Chronicles of a Time Lost

Pandemic! & Pandemic! 2: COVID-19 Shakes the World & Chronicles of a Time Lost by Slavoj Žižek

This book already feels incredibly dated just a few years after publication. There were things that we cared about during the covid-19 pandemic that do not feel relevant at all today. At the onset, it was supposed to be only a brief lockdown until infection rates fell. Then it was extended and extended. Some people working in "essential" industries kept working - and suffered from significant infection rates. The professional class was able to work from home. The working class lost their livelihood. The pandemic also occurred during a US election year. And we had various riots worldwide. 

Many parts of the response and actions analyzed in this book feel largely irrelevant today. Perhaps the only conclusion that can be drawn in retrospect is that world did a horrible job of responding (or even understanding how to respond.) Our society is so tightly independent that a full lockdown is just not possible. The porous lockdowns likely did more harm than good. What seemed to be obvious benefits during the pandemic now need to be re-evaluated. This book, written during the pandemic is now a historical artifact.

Zizek's Jokes: (Did you hear the one about Hegel and negation?)

Zizek's Jokes is a selection of Jokes from works (both published and unpublished) of Slavoj Žižek. Many are off-color and are often used to illustrate concepts in his works. The book can be repetitive - with slight variations of the same joke culled from different sources. The jokes can be used to tell "truths" of situations. They can properly criticize even when public criticism is not allowed. On the other hand, they can also give the feeling of criticism, and allow people to feel empowered even when they are not. Plenty of jokes cover feelings of those in the Eastern Block countries (where they may or may not have been created by those in power.) The book is short, but largely disappointing.

The Courage of Hopelessness: A Year of Acting Dangerously

I love the "birds-eye" view that Zizek takes for current social issues. He also peppers his arguments with numerous references to modern and contemporary literature. He observes that LGBTQI+ activists and religious fundamentalists are essentially fighting for the same thing - their identity. They like to say that they are basing their believes on "universal" values. However, the values are rooted in their group and the society in which they live. Some of the big conflicts are based on tiny differences - that may not even be coherent for the group at large. (The "bathroom" debate was a case in point. There was conflict over laws that required people to use the bathroom associated with their birth sex. However, neither outcome would help those that didn't identify with either gender. And what about those that do have fluid gender identification but don't identify with the movement?) The grouping of "oppressed" and "oppressors" is also interesting in that it often has a subtext of implying that the "oppressors" are superior.

He is a strong leftist, yet finds good things to say about the 2016 election of Donald Trump. Clinton would have just continued the corporatist politics as usual. Trump spoke out in a vulgar fashion and aligned himself with "the people". He had much more in common with Sanders in his disovowel of the "ruling class". Alas, in 2020, Biden was brought back in to succeed where Clinton didn't. His election was possible in part by the voters that "settled for Biden" in hopes of getting Trump out. However, Trump still came close. There is a demand for more all out reform. Alas, it may take more time.

The refugee crisis in Europe has some additional clashes of civilizations. On one hand, these are underprivileged minorities. On the other hand, they tend to have conservative Muslim values that are at odds with those in Europe. How does one react?

Why does capitalism always seem to win out? Even so called communist states like China end up creating a highly effective capitalist machine. How do we go about effecting system-wide changes?

The Year of Dreaming Dangerously

Slavoj Žižek explores the "current events" of 2011 from the Marxist perspective. He has ample criticism and compliments for all sides. There were some protests that were just violence without any particular result desired. Some had concrete goals in mind, but were just advocating changes within the current capitalistic system. He would like to see a full on quest for communism. However, even here he has concerns. Marx was very much a student of the industrial age and thus is very biased towards that way of development. That age is long since passed. A new arising of communism will be different. There may be things that look frivolous today, but in the future will be key events that lead to the new world order. 

He focuses on events such as the Occupy movement and the Arab Spring and brings in other less well known uprisings. The discussion is layered with pop culture and literature. He praises "timeless" creations that still work in new places and time (such as Romeo and Juliet set in modern Venice Beach.) He manages to tie Ayn Rand and Lion King together. The circle of life is great if you are a lion. There are a lot of interesting ideas in the book. There are some significant structural problems with our capitalistic society today. The past attempts at communism have also had their shortcomings. Would the dialectic lead us to something totally different?