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Comment by carapat_virulat | Hacker News Reader

"I already am eating from the trashcan all the time. The name of this trashcan is ideology.

The material force of ideology makes me not see what I am effectively eating. It’s not only our reality which enslaves us. The tragedy of our predicament when we are within ideology is that when we think that we escape it into our dreams, at that point we are within ideology."[1]

This is a really nice documentary about all the unspoken assumptions that permeate our day to day lives, I would really recommend everybody to see it.

None of this is scientific or empirical, but the thing is, neither are the myriad of day-to-day assumptions that we usually take as obvious or common sense.

[1] The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012)

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I thoroughly enjoy Zizek, and to actually understand him I would recommend reading his work, because the Zizek of cinema or Youtube really is a confusing, tiny glimpse of his thought.

I'll also note that he's pretty unpopular in this forum. He can be pretty brutal to thinkers popular here, such as Steven Pinker. [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kugiufHh800&feature=youtu.be...

I wouldn't say he's unpopular around here: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=Zizek&sort=byPopularity&type=c...

Too many entries to sift through if you sort by all time, but I recall him being called a charlatan here, which is what Chomsky once called him (which might explain it).

Otherwise I feel the tech community in general rejects the field of critical theory. I don't think Zizek is just a critical theory guy - he identifies primarily as a scholar of Hegel - but he's certainly the best known among critical/ literary theory types.

Otherwise I feel the tech community in general rejects the field of critical theory.

What else would you expect when someone's entire experience with critical theory is some wanker using it to poorly advocate a pet cause?

Now that wanker's position may be well founded in critical theory and have good arguments supporting it, but that doesn't matter. When someone uses critical theory as a magic "I'm right" box, rather than helping their detractors acquire the tool-set with which to criticize (or come to agree with) their position, that behavior just makes them an even bigger wanker.

I both agree and disagree with both of your points. Heh : )

a) I think that The Pervert's Guide to Ideology is quite self-contained and digestible without the need to read his (entire) work. There are YouTube clips of some of his talks/lectures that are pretty standalone as well.

b) I like Zizek. So he's popular with me for what it's worth. I like Pinker too though. Hmm. Can we not just all get along?

a) I disagree still... let's put it this way, on a forum like r/zizek where people discuss Zizek's positions, it's patently obvious who hasn't actually read Zizek and who just watches YouTube and the Pervert's Guides, which is what a lot of Zizek fans do because they find the reading intimidating (it certainly is, at first). Don't read his entire work, just Less than Nothing, or one of his self-proclaimned important works.

b) We can like and appreciate both (I do too). They are compatible to an extent, but some facets of behavior described from a pure evo psych or cog sci perspective conflict with a Lacanian-Hegelian one. My friend is a Steven Pinker fanatic, and we are in constant debate anytime we meet up for beers.

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