If you’re not familiar with Slavoj Zizek, the prophetic
philosopher and cultural theorist from Slovenia, the first thing you should
know about him is that he has opinion on just about everything. When
listening to him speak, you are guaranteed to fully comprehend less than 50
percent of everything he says, be thoroughly annoyed by his fidgeting, and yet
still, ultimately, manage to be absolutely blown away. Tuesday
night’s panel featuring Slavoj Zizek alongside Columbia’s own Stathis
Gourgouris, Lydia Liu, and Bruce Robbins was no exception.
In his introduction Stathis Gourgouris, Professor of
Comparative Literature, commented that Zizek produces thought and writings at a
“super human speed and scale.” Although the official topic of the panel was
discussion of Zizek’s newest book The Year of Dreaming Dangerously, in which
Zizek argues that the“events of 2011 augur a new political reality,” Zizek
structured his presentation around five “short interventions.” Demonstrating an
incredible propensity for analysis of our current unique existence as a
globalized world, Zizek left the audience with several troubling thoughts, claiming
ultimately “our times are a time of un-doing” requiring us to reimagine the
political sphere as it is and as it could be. Zizek predicts “a divorce
on the horizon between capitalism and democracy” and argues that, as our
political landscape begins to change, we must think more radically and ask more
radical questions if we are to emerge from our current state of political
upheaval. Despite the heavy nature of the discussion, Zizek managed to
keep a light tone throughout, even ending his presentation with the
declaration, “Now I exposed myself like Jesus Christ”.
Although he takes a radical, Marxist approach, Zizek’s
conjectures still contained grains of truth that could be appreciated by
everyone regardless of political background. Furthermore, in representing ideas
of extreme radicalism, Zizek forces us all to bring into question our own
political ideals and, most importantly, to defend them. This idea was
made evident by the panel portion that followed Zizek’s initial presentation.
In this section of the evening Robbins, Liu, and Gourgouris each offered
critiques of Zizek’s arguments, which were followed by a final rebuttal by
Zizek.
Engaging, entertaining, and witty, Zizek was undeniably the
star of the panel. Initially, I doubted the sense in even bringing in
additional panelist\s, but hearing Zizek’s response to the critiques of
Gourgouris, Liu, and Robbins completely changed my opinion. Zizek was
completely invigorated by the opportunity to debate. He thoughtfully
rebuked criticisms with well-crafted answers that tended to contain a few more
curse words than his prepared portion, much to the audiences’ delight.
During the question and answer portion, Zizek even promised a
particularly discontented attendee the opportunity to debate him on the merits
of communism when he returns to New York in April. I personally am
looking forward to the event but fear slightly for this man – if there was
one lesson to be learned from Tuesday night’s panel it is that, if you debate
Zizek, you will lose. The impassioned manner in which Zizek debates reminds us
that this is what politics is supposed to be: real debate, real radicalism, and
real ideas.
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