Slavoj Zizek Vs Will Self in Dangerous Ideas
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- Zizeks New Book - amzn.to/2qvkS8F
An evening of Dangerous Ideas with the philosopher Slavoj Žižek and polemicist Will Self. Exchanging ideas over todays ideological, political and economic faultlines, from mass migration and geopolitical tension to explosions of populist, ethnic and religious passion, all framed by a global capitalism which seems bent on provoking its own apocalyptic demise.
Zizek has been called the most dangerous thinker in the West, an intellectual activist with a frenzied appetite for big ideas, and for revealing their hidden life inside our everyday concerns. Nothing is safe from his attention, whether Hegel or vampire movies. As a public critic he has been remorselessly critical of liberal democracy, for purveying freedoms which are illusory and complicit with the unfreedoms from which it claims to protect us. With increasing urgency, Zizek would like us to wake up.
Recorded May 18th 2017 in London
See more of Slavoj here: th-cam.com/play/PLFIigLLitqDlMcyK7zER5I8s9AgGwSPgj.html
"My pessimism is at the same time...a cause of optimism....don't worry there will be new crisis" -Zizek
2020: who here after pandemic
2021: my pessimism is at the same time…
he was right ;)
And so on .. and so on ..
23
Self: Give me a simple answer
Zizek: There are no simple answers.
Yep there are indeed no simple answers
Complex ideas won't set the world on fire if they can't fit in a tweet.
@@shodanxx Yet “You hear the tree that falls but not the seed that flourishes”
Self isn't asking for a "simple" answer, that's a misrepresentation.
@@DdraigGoch84 Not that much of a difference... if ...one thinks that demanding "prescriptively clear" philosophical "answers" to the world's great problems (which is what Self overtly states he expects "his" philosophers to be doing) IS already a gross simplification of the mission of philosophy.
this is like watching a Zizek speach but every minute a caricacture of an englishman interrupts him to bully him so he can impress his Oxford Friends.
I think he has some points, but he is so english that you can´t anything but hate him to make him happy.
His pompous tone reminds me of the movies set in Ancient Rome. Entitled douche.
His Englishness is meaningless, this tone and attitude can be found through out the world, it's why the moderate left has fallen.
You should watch other debates to realize that Self is head and shoulders above Zizek's usual conversation partners. For one thing, he actually listens to him.
@@nicanornunez9787 well said
What makes Zizek brilliant is that he's willing to be wrong and tries to understand other persons point of view instead of doing the usual sidestepping.
he has a sort of bold naiveness, accepting to be a target of will's bile and defensive nihilism. and tries, he does, to have a dialogue.
All he did here though was sidestepping and dancing besides the point :D
I suggest that clearly comes from thinking ones positions through, and not be ideological about beliefs, for the most part. So, it's only when someone is caught in contradiction or a superior argument for ones belief that someone needs to sidestep, usually, I think.
@@Jansk1h
Why, just because he didn't formulate a solid solution that would bring utopia? What's wrong by stating that we should sit down and think and talk about what's going on, where are we now and how are we going to deal with all the different problems that we're faced with on this planet? He's not God and not a Guru or Führer who presents the end all be all miracle solution, that Self seems to demand from him.
Well, Marxism is as big a mistake as possible, and he doesn't abandon that rot.
When they asked Zizek to participate to this he said: "Ok, even if it means that I Will Self torture a bit"
Hilarious. Point well taken
😂
I'd never ve guessed that zizek is also a very patient person
I'm really surprised. I'd smash that passive aggressive dickhead if I were in his position.
@@cheungch1990 yeah, I certainly wouldnt have the same courage to continue the debate seriously. I mean, zizek is often misunderstood cause many people cant follow his crazy and fantastic mess of great thoughts haha, but this is an extreme case, the guy isnt even listening, just trying to be a stupid troll for the sake of the audience
He survived the breakup of Yugoslavia no?
The negative comments about Will Self's performance here indicates how people often confuse a debate and an interview or chat. Will Self was unashamedly pragmatic - almost cringe inducingly so. And his insistence on practical solutions actually allows us to see a certain shade of Zizek which is rare to see. These questions help us to see Zizek's engagement with the complex problem of political praxis. This is what an interview is supposed to do; Self doesn't have to be right or wrong here. His job is to provoke by persisting in a certain mode of questioning so that we the audience get a fresh look at the author being interviewed.
I really agree here - not many have been this blunt with Zizek, and it has shown an interesting, somewhat elusive side to his narrative
Agreed.
okay. you changed my view
This is more of an interrogation than a debate, I do not respect Will for using Zizeks ticks to punt in vacuous questions before he can even finish answering the last one, this is the definition of unlearning. We don't gain any insight into Wills points because he has none and as a result neither do we in Zizeks.
Pffft hmmmph pfffft hmmmph pfffft hmmmph pfffft hmmmph u clown 🤡
Oh my god this reminds me of every time I talk to my dad.
Haha. So true
Omg this comment killed me. It is so much like that. Self was such a pompous tw*t for so much of this. I didn't know what his point was or what he was trying to do here, I feel like he only succeeded in being obnoxious like a father talking down to his child.
this is hard to watch, can’t stand will self
I admire zizek’s patience
will self is trash
First time I've seen Will Self - I get that he's trying to force the ultimate point out of Zizek's thesis (which is open-ended), but he does it in such a condescending way, he sacrifices the answers in exchange for his own self promotion, with no answers other than "don't buy cell phones because they contain coltan". Dealing with this line of questioning, no wonder half of Zizek's face is paralyzed today.
Ivan Tuma he's patronizing Zizek around arguments who lack theoretical analysis and who doesn't get into Zizek's point of discussion.
I think Self is doing a good thing, albeit quite rude, but he is provoking Zizek to go to the next step. To evolve from just a cultural critique (the left has enough of them) and to build a clear and straight forward philosophy, to make a call to action. He sees in Zizek a lot of potential thanks to the popularity he has, he could really help the left movement more than he is doing it now.
Self made a good observation, even most Zizek fans don’t know Lacan or Hegels’ phenomenology and how will it help them if they know. People will not organise around and change the status quo by reading what Zizek or Lacan has to say now, but they might be if Zizek offers a more clear and easyto understand plan and he has the potential. Maybe he doesn’t want to go this far, but a more practical nuance would help.
@@alexbarbu4633 I kinda agree. I think he's also being a massive dick. The two aren't mutual inclusive.
Zizek himself goes on about those who commit genocide and simultaneously produce sublime spiritual meditations. Self is here executing the impressive feat of embodying both at the same time - he is (niavely) synthesis.
(Semi) joking aside, he's really fucking annoying, totally on an ego trip, BUT I'm really enjoying Zizek butting up against someone who won't let him just rant and pins him down.
first time you have seen will self? you must have missed him on "shooting stars" then? where 2 comedians used the attitude he has here to mock him :), nice to see he's pretty much exactly the same... have a search for it, its worth the laugh...
@@alexbarbu4633 bine coaie bravo
Seems like Zizek is just trying to say: as we approach the crisis point, some will be attracted to totalitarianism, some to anarchy, but some will have real solutions, so we should look out for them and support them when they arise. He can't give solutions to a crisis that hasn't arrived yet, the crisis itself creates the solution and the key is to watch it carefully and act appropriately when it comes. Self is basically asking him to predict the future like the Communists of old and he is refusing.
I expected Self to put forward his own ideas, but he was really just an interrogator. Which is fine, I guess.
ThaNK YOU. I breathe more calmly now. I was feeling so frustrated at the interruptions which prevented Zisek more than Self from completing the thought. at one point Zisek said something about a wide elite - widespread elite of educated people perhaps. Self thought he said White elite and the whole thing got derailed. or maybe it was Self who was talking about a wide elite and zisek thought he said white elite - that may be it, Self had interrupted Zisek and missed the point Zisek was making i would guess from the other commentators here who were better able to cope with where SELF is coming from - ie Local ego. Failing to see in archetypal terms. Humanity is ever thus. If we cannot stop arguing and start listening to people who see from a different term of reference ( eternity, archetype vs local ego, humans as isolated in our own moment in time) we are bound for extinciton. it takes two to tango. I kiss your feet oldtemberfury. i resonate with your name.
drugacigje svetje moguc ( not sure of spelling.) Another World Is Possible. A field of consciousness exists . I exist in it. I call it Love. it listens and pacifies the sobbing of the women who live alongside violent men. violence is not only physical.Love is not only physical. Spirit is not only immaterial. Breath is. this possibility exists. Peace is discovered on the breath of those who can hear their own breathing. it is like that of a child who has passed an emotionally stormy moment and now sleeps. the sleep of reason? the nightmare oftoday. Oldtemberfury - will it ever be thus. ? ( gotta know your quellos from your questos. :) )
I believe in elites.
Well, Self DID state multiple times that it shall be capitalism and its individuals who are in trait conscientiousness and IQ (the best predicators of life success)
thats how I conceptualized his "mocking" of lazy wankers.
That's what Self was holding against Žižek's increasingly vage utterances and standpoints the whole time. Am I wrong?
oldtemberfury I think Self is exactly what Zizek needs once and awhile.
The level of stand-up comedians of these guys is unparalleled. Roasted the whole audience more than once and we just applaud. Timeless.
aye... Makes Ian Hislop looks like Gina Yashere. Fearless, open discussion....
Brechtian alienation
It could be that people disposed to watching this could hold similarly critical views of themselves, almost as critical as the views they have of the system, because we all go to work and perform our activist duties once a month, and walk around with that “coltan in our pockets,” as a new form of facism seems a likelier and likelier successor to liberal capitalist democracy and therefore any criticism of the inactivity of revolutionaries and reformists everywhere becomes a clap worthy notion. If you look closely you will see that no one is clapping. They are all slapping themselves like morally conflicted hyperbolic seals. Applause!
Zizek, a truly remarkable thinker and charming human being sits down with a smarmy child
Self misses the point several times, and tries to play to the crowd when his own definitions are lacking. He has nothing to say here, he only attempts to play the contrarian to Zizek's ideas, and fails miserably.
Casey McAlister . Agree
Yeah it was almost hard to listen to. Not to mention he keeps interuppting Zizek before he gets to his point. Bit that could be Self's Schitk
not that Žižek is without his flaws but Will-highly-Self-regarding is basically a smarmy bourgeois twat from a privileged English 'establishment' family.
What are Zizek's ideas exactly?
World-wide utopian communist, totalitarian government, as Self mentioned?
Stalinism at a global scale?
For Goodness sake, Zizek is bum and a lunatic. A man of no substance.
Zizek responds:
No! this is precicely the point. Look, let me explain this as clearly as I possibly can. There is an old wives tale from Estonia which goes... (etc etc). And so you see, that the problem lies precisely in the solution itself, a true paradox and so on. Have I distracted you from your original question enough yet that you feel you can accept this as an astute answer? No? okay, let's be frank here then...
Is astonishing how much Will Self criticizes Zizek for not offering any specific proposition on how to solve world's problems while he also doesn't.
It’s comes off as a sincere hypocrisy, like he is saying “Yes, I am just sitting home, smoking weed and wanking, but so are you, with all your theoretical airs.”
I started out being annoyed but eventually appreciated he is a great foil, for Zizek, in this exchange.
The problem is that Zizek is by definition someone who creates descriptive things. Will wants him to be prescriptive.
@@CrestOfArtorias Will accuses Zizek's writing of having the "ghost of prescriptivism" in it. I thought this was an interesting kind of criticism, and I don't think it's totally off the mark. Zizek expresses the seriousness of what he writes/talks about, but refuses to step into the role of "Master" and give easy answers. He is attempting to be the "authentic master" who delivers people into the "abyss" of their own freedom, where we have to think through the problems ourselves.
When i feel depressed, I listen to Zizek and he always lifts me up! I love you Zizek.
Big Z never lets you down.
"While Yemen is getting bombed by Saudi Arabie with American..." (reads this) sighs
spitting spluttering pro vax mandate moron that he is
This was great! I love Zizek but finally someone who relentlessly pokes Slavoj and holds him to account to every point, otherwise he has a tendency to ramble on. I have found my Yin and Yang, my angel and devil.
yin and yang.... another shitty proverb from another asshole
@@nikemaul must have had a fine day when you wrote thus comment haha
@@nikemaul cool
@@nikemaul it's not a proverb
"You're a philosopher. I want you to tell me how to live."
This is such a strange statement and it underlies the problem at the heart of this interview.
he completely misinterprets Zizek and in doing so misses his subversive potential
This is what Plato's definition of what philosophers and politics should be in service of. It's not a totally unreasonable thing to demand of philosophers.
@@cheeseofultimatedoom He does it in bad faith and as if Zizek claims to have a higher truth for the masses to follow. Zizek is nothing like that, he is simply a rigorous thinker asymmetrically offering his interpretations of the world, and one of the most unassuming and honest intellectuals I've seen.
nowhereboy Plato doesn’t hold the last word on the purpose of philosophy.
must disagree one more time with permanent snowflakes who can
afford not to fall to earth... yes the problem is...zizek cannot tell u..
even worse... uk needs basics back as does usa... u are not in
control of basics..anymore...self telling u... your ''self'' should...just me
Self is a good name for this guy, he is so in love with the sound of his own voice, dripping with smug self-satisfaction
I love words like narcissistic self...
It's an act, from both of them. They enjoy the good things in life.
Agreed - could never stand him
Baroquendmz You say ironically. Haha
You don't understand 'Will Self'
What on earth happened to Will Self? 10/15 years ago, amazing! These days? Your boring uncle, trying to impress another man's daughter
I think that might have more to do with you than with Self, but I may be wrong
Scarily Spot on
Richard Hillier yourself
Spot on.
I think Self is usually the intelligent person in the room in comparison to the other tv personalities but next to Zizek he’s a bit of a paper intellectual.
Self can speak French, I hope you all have noticed, really noticed, Self really needs to know that you have all. Remarquez son remarquable vocabulaire 🤣🤣🤣
yeah, what a "con"... hahaha
Meanwhile Žižek is also fluent in Slovene, Serbo-Croatian, German, and French and he doesn't need to have his head up his ass about it.
Remarqué, non?
I'd rather see Slavoj with Karl Pilkington.
Now you've said it, I desperately want it to happen.
cam that happen?
Yes please!
who DF is Karl Pilkington
@@NillionaireNewsNetwork a (former) friend of Ricky Gervais, with whom he did a podcast and a few tv/netflix shows; he's the perfect combination of stupidity and genius in my opinion
What I understood Zizek was saying: It's still no time to act. We are living in a time when major traits of our civilization are deteriorating. We know we are in decline, we just don't know when will water spill out of glass and what will make it spill out (immigration, economic inequalities, anti-globalism and so on, and so on). But until that moment comes, lets use the time to think about what we want for the future and be prepared for when the shit hits the fan. At least we ought to know the direction we want to go. Because if we don't know what to do, there will be imminent clashes between different ideologies, policies, races, religions...
Had ancient world, the Roman Empire, been aware their Empire was to fall apart in a century or two time, and if they used time to think what people should do after it disintegrates, we probably wouldn't have had cultural Dark Ages and following 15 centuries of constant wars in Europe. Zizek is warning about this, but this bloke is trying to be hip.
"Do they know how much we need violence just for things to go on as they are. " --- zizek
This is very deep , and in a way
To become disassociated from this truth is the first step toward becoming inhumane ,
but the truth is we have been inhumane for centuries.
With all the contentious behaviors and remarks from Will Self towards Žižek throughout the entire debate, I nonetheless think that it was a great conversation because Self was able to force Žižek to answer important questions such as: why Lacan? What does he mean by still being a communist? Why Marx back to Hegel? And so on.
If you're familiar with Žižek, he is easily carried away in public discourses and often forgets to finish a sentence before moving. It can be really frustrating to listen to him. But I also appreciate the fact that in almost every situation where the opponent or interviewer behaves in a rude, aggressive and challenging way (such as the BBC Hard Talk and this one), Žižek always patiently answers back without being angry or disrespected. It's these kinds of debates that people who are interested in Žižek's work can get a clear sense of what his theoretical positions and his justifications for it.
btw I think that the last person asked a really good and serious question out of the rest
Zizek is the only intellectual on the stage.
Joshua L wish you were there to be his equal 👍
@@Mcweeever What ya on about love?
@@FrankNFurter1000 what Gump told me , that's what
Will Self has such a sarcastic, bitter, passive-aggressive tone throughout this debate. And why does he keep quoting the title of Slavoj's book? It becomes ludicrous after a while.
He’s always like that: he always thinks the interview is about him, and can’t really bear to share air-time with the interviewee. Why they give him these gigs is beyond me.
Fuck if that's disgusting to see, I can't imagine to attend.
He can’t help it he’s Jewish
he clearly enjoyed it, he references it constantly
What a cesspool of racist bullshit this comments section is. I pity zizek that it's assholes like you who try to use his words to defend your vileness
Will Self: Lay out a detailed program for a new world
Slavoj Zizek: People have to do that for themselves, not me.
Rinse and repeat.
This is incredibly true
Zizek in some other interviews says the exact opposite. People are not intelligent enough, they are lost and need intellectuals to think on their behalf...
@Vade Retro, he's pretty clear here about how revolutionary movements rely on their elites to get things rolling.
Does that mean its false if the truth is incredible?
Zizek is pretty good in setting out the problem and the different ways that there are to viewing it but, he doesnt have the answer to everything, just hints. I think he is afraid of another form of totalitarianism and therefore doesnt commit thoroughly enough.
When Self is asking his "questions" he's looking more at the audience than he's looking at Zizek and that kind of says it all. Cringe
self does both look at him...and zizek does not fact audience...challenge...
self may seem a bit arrogant...but he is ''for'' uk...not just discussing...
and he can keep up with the philosophy...bc he knows...
i think self is right..like lib dem's in usa..protest to nowhere...and
drags down the country worse...cringe on that...bc u will for real...
i have had it hit me for 40yrs more than your 20age... i and many
like me who started and were ''good feeling''...are now pointed and
used as targets wrongly...as country falls..and as oxford ...u wont like it
when its your turn at later age...stop lib things total...no giving to
crybaby groups more than regular ppl...and thats just part of the
holes in the boat... we do need to work off the overly rich top
we must try keep the ''worker top''...and get rid of the ''money bums''
and for sure the ''druggie profiteer' dangerous...set stiff controls there..
And what does it say?
@@alexverdigris9939 it says he's trying to kinda ridicule Zizek to the audience.
@@VidMusFun I didn't see it that way. He's trying to appeal to Zizek by way of appealing to the audience for an answer that everyone can understand.
he's very stupid and his attitude reminds me my 3 years old nephew
Audience member "We should be confused but we are not". That is a brilliant observation and simply describes our situation. And may even approach Zizek's position in some ways
Self is constantly putting words into Zizek's mouth by intentionally misinterpreting what Zizek is saying for the sake of discrediting him.
That would be a compliment to Self, in implying he actually understood Zizek's points.
Will Self's end goal is merely getting a rise out of others getting a rise from him. He's a troll without a cause.
This is just Self’s pathetic attempt to protect himself from being interpreted as stupid by the Other. For that he is compulsively switching all the attention back to Zizek’s ‘mistakes’ (or whatever).
"Stalinist! Stalinist! Stalinist!" (Slavoj in the end) :D You just got to love him.
why do u think he did that?
Zizek arguing with a child (full footage)
Which is refusing to grow up
One thing I admire about Zizek here is, he doesn't shy away from confrontation with over-privileged Oxford liberals. He's obviously miles ahead of Self intellectually but is decent enough not to buy into Selfs silly needles. Really good composure. He was never going to give straight one-sentenced answers. I don't know if Self intended it as some kind of funny or edgy interplay or if it was just a mechanism to cope with his own inferiority.
Personally I'd say Self was using it as a way of getting the most from Zizek.
Self has a dry sense of humour. He is pretentious but i am pretty sure he knows it.
The philosopher generates or creates concepts, ideas, and this is what Zizek does. He's "descriptive," according to Will Self who urges Zizek to be "prescriptive," to provide solutions to the present day problems, paricularly in Great Britain. I agree with another person, I think WS tries to find a different approach to engaging Zizek, to challenge him.
Will knows his stuff, he's not behind Zizek intellectually. That's not the problem. I'm with Zizek BTW
@@bennwoods8905 urgh yeah but his coltan argument is boring. It’s like he’s a teenager.
Will Self is pure ideology and deserves gulag.
What an ironic statement! XD
His own mind is a gulag.
AHAHAHAHHHAHA dude
Your own gulag is not in order because gulag is not in order
@jonathan gresham I am a 60 y. o. communist and I think Self, as a prototypical anti-anti-Semite selfish bourgeois deserves a nazi death camp, considering the death rate of the GULAGs was much lower than what Anglo-Saxon propaganda wanted to make you believe.
british accent won't always save you
@jonathan gresham haha true
@jonathan gresham lmaoo
@@DdraigGoch84 It's not that he isn't clear - it's that there aren't any clear and simple answers that the dumb ass keeps bullying him for.
No such thing dimwit...
I love Zizek but it's hard to put up with this other guy. He doesn't realize how dangerous it is to have an opinion without a basis in knowledge. People today refuse to read, think and take risks AND are so quick to demand simple and categorical solutions.
People are slagging Will Self off but to be fair he is playing his part to disagree and get closer to the vulnerable areas in Zizeks points which I think he gave a good shot.
I noticed that Zizek interrupts his opponent when they agree with him, which I find extremely fitting for the man. He is more excited to find common grounds, than to engage in conflict or disagreement.
the chad continental philosopher vs the virgin ironic cynic
атлична пошутила, наташка!
you mean sarcastic
What is a chad continental philosopher?
the opposite of what virgin ironic cynic means
Vaguely defined worlds vs intelectual fake like hoording
Self's snide laugh at his own snide jokes is about the most pathetic sound in existence
Will Self isn't 'cool' by any stretch
He doesn't try to be. The other dude is a whack-a-doodle.
you probably haven't read him then
Reading Self would be a waste of time. That arrogant bastard doesn't deserve the time of day. He's full of shit, just like Zizek.
Calling them pseudo-intellectuals would be too much praise for these bums.
They just show how decadent and dumbed down our western society has become.
You know Self is a novelist, right? A writer of fiction? Lovecraft was a balls out xenophobe but I can still enjoy his imagniative prose.
He used to be. To other London wankers.
“Will Self” is the sign I’d be holding if I were homeless.
Will Self for food?
Will Self postulates and tries to intimidate using nice long words that really aren't needed.
He's uses other ideas and a thesaurus of seven+ letter words like a drunk using a lamp post; for support, never for illumination.
111 likes for a stolen and unattributed comment
@@Spectrescup
My "comment is stolen and unattributed"?
You forgot to include a link to back up your claim.
I love Zizek, but I think it wouldn't hurt him to have more of these types of conversations. Will Self is obviously slightly confrontational on purpose, but when you heard enough of Zizek, you understand that it may be the only way to force him to be specific about the implications of the principles he is pushing. I very much enjoyed this one!!
This is like watching a complicated and nuanced subject debated between a professor and a high school student
@Mike Fuller Self is acting like a Highschool debating hopeful
Self is acting like some sort of useless BBC journalist in a 5-minute interview rather than a facilitator of a long-form conversation
That said, he does come up with the occasional zinger, eg. "Perhaps we should advertise in Lonely Hearts columns: 'I'm a future member of the Leninist elite. Will you meet me outside the Emmanuel Centre for a good fucking?'"
@@jeremys5576 that is a good line, but at the same time coming from a smug prick like self makes you hate him even more, rather than making you respect him, because rather than using a dirty joke as bonding, he uses it to humiliate in the stupidest way.
Self postures as a snarky provocateur and contributes nothing substantive. His grotty Ichabod persona seems like an overcompensation for a failed interview at Monty Python's Argument Clinic.
So this is what is meant by "verbal diarrhea", huh? Thanks for providing an example
Will is an anarchistic nihilist. He's just engaging in conversation with Zizek for sh!ts and giggles.
@@jzen1455 Nihilists are always myopic, and doing things ironically is a guarantee someone is not a good example of a sentient entity.
@@jzen1455 Please don't pretend you know what true anarchism represents.
Been a fan of both of these guys at different times in my life, but looking at it now, with all the problems we're facing, and understanding now the wider context he is pointing at, Zizek is truly a brilliant mind.
How could you be a fan of Self? He is awful. Cannot stand the cunt.... he embodies everything that is wrong with Britain. He needs to just disappear.
Around 23:00 Zizek refers to the "first and second edition's of Hegel's LOGIC," but Mr. Self is so dense that he can only hear "phenomenology" and proceeds to demand that an audience member differentiate between the "first and second editions of Hegel's Phenomenology," which anyone with a basic knowledge of Hegel can tell you is not a real distinction. What a poseur.
Self posted some straight up r/iamverysmart
This entire conversation is so funny, I laughed all the way, beginning to end.
I felt Self had clearly read 'courage of hopelessness', disliked it and had premeditated a lot of critique he never planned to use, but he got hot and bothered during the course of the talk and keep pulling out these verbal assaults that Zizek seemed completely oblivious to. This is a fantastic premise for intellectual comedy.
I 'Will' say Self had possibly the most pompous response at some point a group of words so untouchable and intellectual I couldn't intuitively grasp his point because I'm a pleb...and then ten minutes later he's trying to side with the every man who apparently just wanks and smokes weed.
Albert Williams - a galimaufrey of platitudes?
I agree that it seems contradictory but the working man does need lawyer sometimes. That's also the point of "only God can judge me" as God is more aware of all contingencies and cuts through all bullshit, being both all-powerful and all-knowing, a man of knowledge and action.
@@Person4649Person
If God is all-knowing then he judged us the moment that he created us.
watching will self was more embarrassing than watching Theresa May dancing
They don't make it easy for us do they?
Zizek is able to output 1 TB of info in the time that Self can get out .5 MB
😂
Will Self: "Shut up, I'm the moderator! I guide the discourse! I am the censor and the judge! Praise me audience, praise me!"
Audience: "Wait, can you shut up for a moment? What was Zizek trying to say?"
Will Self: "No! Coltan! Coltaaaann!
I'm 20 Minutes in and I'm getting more and more impressed with Zizek's patience with that insufferable guy.
Will Self spent more time grooming his mutton chops than getting ready for the debate
Zizek is much more mindful of the presence and request of others. I think is Will is not willing (willing :D) to look into it but just arguments endlessly. Zizek seems to genuinely stay interested even if being constantly attacked. It's like constant anticipation and affirming to the audience. You can tell by the look he gives to the audience, its a need of being accepted. While zizek is really occupied with the content
Felt like he was just performing for his own fan boys, every look to this spectral audience was “see, see how he can’t answer my question and he is a charlatan and I am a clear eyed thinker, see?”
24:45 Will uses this debate to make Zizek re-state some of oldest works. So basically this is a catch up session for Will on Zizek's work lol
“I don’t trust experts, there is no expert ruling class that knows what’s going on- but I don’t trust ordinary people either.”
This is the reality that drives some (too abstract thinking) people into the madness of anarchism.
Will Self needs to learn the difference between activism and theory.
He knows the difference. But theory becomes navel-gazing in the context of the current crisis. What we need is action.
@@Misterz3r0 I believe zizek would agree as well
Will Self's end goal is merely getting a rise out of others getting a rise from him. He's a troll without a cause.
He knows the difference between reality and fantasy well enough. He's just trying to get Zizek to admit he's a fantasist, and provoke him to dream up a justification for his play.
@@kreek22 what let’s you know that Will Self understands “reality”? Is it that he shares your prejudices or does he offer some substantive positive contribution to understanding our world?
Well surely Self needs to better distinguish political activism and political philosophy, and why has he found a need to reiterate that worn out placard "what should we do about it" in relation to entrenched and entangled global capitalism... This is a collective problem and deserves a collective resolution.
and what would that collective resolution be when we stick it to the ever strengthening 0.1 percent
Emile, It seems you have been met with tumbleweeds. Presumably we are to collectively think about activism harder than ever, before mashing our keyboards more fervently. Job done.
"Political philosophy" is mostly a debate about what state religion should be adopted.
"Political activism" only happens under certain state religions. For example, under the Leninist religion political activism does not happen. Under Whiggery it does.
Moderator: "Slavoj Žižek"
Automated captions: "Slobbery Shack"
Both accurate.
this observation deserves more
I usually love irony in debate, but Self uses it as one might use a fleshlight. Good debate nonetheless
true
Deserves more likes.
As a non-native english speaker, it was a bad idea to google "fleshlight" while beeing next to my coworkers. At least now I know that I agree with your comment.
thanks, i thought it was a typo, and didnt pay much attention. A good giggle is what i got when i looked it up. MrMorganMM "s pen is incisive, He cuts that ego stroking Self down a size.@@PSGV90
That literally sounds like something he'd say
27:40 "you are too intellectual for me" is a stinging cynical put-down on behalf of Zizek lol
don't you get tired of such folk?
You only need to hear a word from will self to hate him.
Not had that reaction, i thought he brought the best out of mr Z
Will Self is quite rude and passive aggressive. Bad conversationist .
Cyberpunk Spinoza I disagree. He got him talking and didn’t allow him to waffle.
> Be a professed Polemicist >Gets attacked for acting polemically. I think his job in this conversation was to hold Slavoy's feet to the fire, not to be a polite person to engage with.
Passive aggression is an act of cowardice-a straight up bitch move.
I admit, it wasn't pleasant to listen to him whinging, but he kept Slavoj on topic and relevant (talk about why you're here, in London, today), and kept the discourse down closer to the level of a layperson, for which I'm thankful. I haven't read my Lacan.
"passive aggressive", isn't this a misnomer? In the old days we may have said " manacing"?
47:35 lol "and soever". He uses "and so on and so on" and "or whatever" so often that the two have finally merged :D
damn I love him ahah
It's in the dictionary, but I don't think he knew that haha
Definition of soever
1: to any possible or known extent -used after an adjective preceded by how or a superlative preceded by the
how fair soever she may be
Comrade Zizek has brought be to tears with his appreciation of the dialectic lmao
The ego of this self guy is through the roof, asking pointless questions all the time and interjecting.
At minute 58 I began to realize that I was listening to an argument between Gandalf and Saruman.
lmao true af !
Zizek killed Will.
Not really. He didnt have any answers to Self's questions.
@@maxwest6595 there are no simple answers
@@maxwest6595 but he does in his 50 odd books
My small brain enjoyed this bullshit. Will asks Slavoj what we should do. Slavoj never really answers his question. We simply don't know what to do, to possibly reach some sort of utopia. But what we need is broad discussions, so many thanks to this channel.
The more interesting question for me is- why do we look to the other to make personal prescriptions for each of our lives?? No! You have to engage with the ideas and find way to incorporate the ideas for yourself! Zizek encourages us to think; THINK
slavoj does not want to create ideology, he wants people to think, so that they may come to common grounds.
This is my first exposure to the thinking of Will Self and this is to say I know very little about him. The fact of the matter that for me demands Self-respect is that he is asking the right questions and provoking Slavoj to elucidate his personal views in an almost confessional manner. Clarifying Slavoj's ideas without such push-back for the lay-reader is nearly impossible and therefore clarification is the best thing for Slavoj--until he says he believes in elites--I kid!
Self is just afraid to truly debate, he pushes slavoj ironically about his lack of final solution whilst not providing anything himself. This is a debate and he is just an interrogator making cheap jokes. I have no respect for how he takes advantage of zizeks ticks to punt in another vacuous question.
Could have been done in a much less "humorous" way though.
That lanky scarecrow sure has a chip on his shoulder.
I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you :')
I'm not a native English speaker, but god do i recognize haughty accents...
"You were right about wanting to name him Will Cringe", Will's Mom to her husband after watching this interview
Lmao
Self's irritability is a narcissistic performance and he does it everywhere, not just here. It's kind of sad.
It IS..the face..of empty..void..of all original thought!!
Is SELF just playing towards audience?
He is a narcissist. So yes.
Honestly if I was at the audience I would be shouting obscenities at him, such an insufferable petty little man
Will Self is coming from Jeremy Paxman's tedious condescending Oxbridge debating society contempt for truth under the disguise of seeking answers. Debating societies teach the privileged that truth doesn't matter, and students may alternate positions to learn that attitude. Debating under these terms is the perfect forum for sociopaths and psychopaths, and Self fits the bill here in exactly the way Paxman did. Slavoj Zizek has the distracting habit of interrupting himself without Self being there; add Self's facile objections and you get pointless circuitous babbling, which Self, for whom sincerity is something to fake, is happy to settle for.
Will Self is like the physical manifestation of the idea of "devil's advocate".
i don't imagine that the devil is that incompetent.
Will Self fit the role of an inquisitor looking for something which is eluding him, fishing an answer that does not have the proper question worked out. The mentality of a person like Mr Self is useless to the people at large, too comfortable in his tailored education between Oxford and Cambridge, a world apart from the reality of this planet.
Two fantastic intellects fencing with words. The world needs more of this kind of thing.
Sarcasm? I can only see one intellectual on that stage.
Nobody got to talk, the activist liberal phrases by Self is constantly making this onto a game of who the smartest guy on the stage is. Childish...
Self: TELL US WHAT TO DO ABOUT PEOPLE TELLING US WHAT TO DO!
He should ask Zach DeLa Rocha.
Self‘s attempts to present himself as intellectually superior by asking what he thinks are “difficult questions” only makes me cringe. Not to speak of his classism. To the Gulag alright.
Even the littlest souls think they can decide who gets gulaged. They dream of being janitors for Stasi.
@@kreek22 'littlest'
@@kreek22 thus it's a wonderful universal dream, that every comrade can aspire to! dark fantasies are the best kind, because you know you would never do it, even if you had the opportunity to.
@@ethanstump "you know you would never do it" I think if that line were inverted, it would be closer to the truth. The gulag minders, the Stasi agents, the Einsatzgruppen, the Cultural Revolutionists--probably they all believed "they would never do it"--until they did.
ZIZEK: "I will be brief"
*12 MINUTES LATER*
Zizek is Great! He dies Not fear and argument or point. He talks about Mao,a total taboo that most leftists avoid only because his name is a taboo,and he talks about Mao's writings and deeds on totally logical grounds. He walks the talk and he takes apart the past of the historical socialist movement to see what the left today can learn from it! His opponent attacks him with Lenin and Mao citations and brings very weak arguments to refute Zicek because he relies on the fear striken into the audience from the cold war propaganda they got fed. As an opponent in a scientific discussion he relies more on the emotions of the listeners then on logical arguments as Slavoj does.
He's only dreads the possibility of his thoughts matching his actions.
I've watched this so many times despite not being able to understand parts of it. pause, google the reference or person they are talking about, continue. so good
Sartre was a visionary whom warned us well in advance of the dangers of the inauthentic self.
Will Self is really annoying, unsavoury character.
this is my first encounter with him. He grew on me over the course of the vid.
he's a horrible interlocutor for Zizek though, I got next to nothing about what Zizek actually believes from this. Need to let the man flow, he doesn't operate well when constrained empirically like a pinned butterfly.
Claxiux totally agree but unsavory is a very polite description...creepy as fuck haha more accurate ...goodness me!
100%
Lol Will Self cannot be more condescending.
Best Monty Python skit I've seen in a while.
Yeah, comments under this video are hilarious... They confirm that sadly Zizek has fallen into a trap of being a meme internet guru, who's 14-year-old followers sheepishly throw ad hominem at anyone who dares to seriously question their daddy. Self is not as charismatic and likeable as Zizek, but he is equally intelligent end well read. He asked good questions, Zizek didn't answer them in a straightforward manner.
Well youtube is full of teens and preteens mistaking intellectual thought for football, where you pick a side and brainlessly cheer along.
I agree that Self asked difficult questions to which Zizek had no answers, and it doesn't matter whether Will Self is a nice guy or not - the questions have independent validity, regardless whether a revolting thinker or a stupid monkey or a cute kitty cat asks them, it doesn't matter.
@@alexverdigris9939 the words themselves have independent validity, but their implementations or how they are used do not. also the character of the person and how they use them can determine how the audience and wider community views them. you might intellectually know that hitler was for animal conservation such as the lynx, but still then associate animal conservation with hitler, because well, hitler. stating your emotional preferences, and how those preferences than interact and comingle with your rational mind shows an intellectual honesty about your own emotionality and irrationality. TLDR: sometimes it's counterproductive to ignore emotion and over focus on rationality. and this is coming from somebody who is autistic and struggles with social interaction.
Will Self acting like this is HIS gig and challenging Slavoj whilst putting nothing on the table himself. Slavoj always comes across well, eventhough his ideas are way too clever for me! 😂
This debate really is just Self's failed attempt to convince Žižek he believes something he doesn't isn't it?
0:42: Will Self is perhaps the coolest British Novelist of the 21st Century?!? Who on Earth are these people?!?
Blairites.
I've got no idea why they would think that. 1990s-early 00s perphaps but not now.
lol, yeah, could hardly believe my ears when I heard that! What a lame intro!
Slavoy is a genius who has fooled the world into thinking he has tics, but actually sways his hands around to confuse his opponents
tick-fu
Self-centred (insert Will)
56:45 "You're a philosopher, I want you to tell me how to live."
When have philosophers done this? Not even Marx does this.
Well it was Marx who claimed that the job of the Philosopher is to not to describe the world but change it.
"Philosophers have only interpreted the world the point is to change it" I'd say that philosophers are here handing over the mantle, the task of change to another party. From a Marxist point of view that would be the proletariat, the revolutionary class.
@@naerua9267 He wrote it in a private manuscript, and he clearly did not follow his dictats since he then proceeded to spend the rest of his life interpreting and studying society. The fact that "Theses on Feuerbach" are quoted so often is due to Engels, rather than Marx
Since around the 5th Century BC? Plato, Confucius, Aristotle...
How nice to come back to this video.