Wonder spawned in: 2010
Wondered into being by: Slavoj Žižek for the RSA and illustrations by Cognitive Media.
Wonderspan: 11 min
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The improvising intellect of the Slovenian cultural philosopher Slavoj Žižek ranges so
extensively that he’s often accused of contradicting himself, as if being consistent is just a bit boring, or perhaps as if wild truth, if we ever saw her, would wear every clashing colour she could find.
Well, here is a classic Žižek iconoclastic blast at Starbucks' absurd claim to be helping us to 'buy into' a better world every time we buy their coffee. He also has a pop at mainstream charities for using the hoarded wealth of the rich to 'keep the poor alive' while leaving the conditions of oppression (and our disproportionate wealth) unchanged. Instead, he argues for his own brand of misanthropy as a more authentic way of loving than is charity:
So here’s Žižek’s talk, with pictures (discuss… leave a comment!)…
Well, here is a classic Žižek iconoclastic blast at Starbucks' absurd claim to be helping us to 'buy into' a better world every time we buy their coffee. He also has a pop at mainstream charities for using the hoarded wealth of the rich to 'keep the poor alive' while leaving the conditions of oppression (and our disproportionate wealth) unchanged. Instead, he argues for his own brand of misanthropy as a more authentic way of loving than is charity:
'There is a certain type of misanthropy which is much better as a social attitude than this cheap charitable optimism.'Is he wrong? Even Greenpeace encourages us to get their branded credit card so you can ‘defend our world while you shop’. Well, some charities* (perhaps those without large fundraising and marketing departments) are warier of buying into the norms of mass culture and are trying to tackle the root causes of a problem rather than just make it easier to live with. But they can't afford to chug you in the street and probably wouldn't even if they could.
So here’s Žižek’s talk, with pictures (discuss… leave a comment!)…
Extra…
And if that’s got you going then you might like this clarion call for us to recognise our common empathy as a
foundation for a future in which we generally make less of a mess of things:
-----------------------------------* = like the one I work with and which I am too weak-willed not to mention here - Alternatives to Violence Project
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