Thursday, January 15, 2009

Who is a "Pseudo-Leftist"? (Am I?)

Žižek illustrates in several of his books how--in spite of the decline of the paternal metaphor and the inefficacy of ethical/political principles--global capitalist relations of production actually structure an ever more prohibitive social reality. However, this underlying political-economic truth is disavowed both by risk society jargon and by multiculturalist identity politics. Žižek shows that postmodern efforts to reduce truth to "narratives” or “solidarity of beliefs,” as well as our (alleged) multiculturalist tolerance for the other, simply further the interests of global capital.

Žižek contends that today's liberal, pseudo-leftists flatter themselves with the fantasy that they are revolutionary beautiful souls. But what they really want more than anything else is to maintain their comforts and their privileges (comforts and privileges that are bought at the expense of suffering human beings in the Third World). In short, a pseudo-leftist is someone who talks about socialism even while enjoying the benefits and profits that come from the service to capitalism.

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