Slavoj Zizek Gives Us the Maddest and Loudest Opinion on Egypt (Video)
Posted by Alex_Pasternack on Friday, Feb 04, 2011
Al-Jazeera interviewed Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek about the unrest in Egypt. Any chance to listen to the latter – or simply look at his face – is a thrilling one. But hearing him expound upon the universalist values at play, the dangers of ideological dialectics, and the political staging of televised events in Egypt is a special treat.
See also his piece yesterday in the Guardian, which also argues that the West tends to depict Arab revolutions as religious and extremist. And he, uh, quotes Mao to help his case:
The hypocrisy of western liberals is breathtaking: they publicly supported democracy, and now, when the people revolt against the tyrants on behalf of secular freedom and justice, not on behalf of religion, they are all deeply concerned. Why concern, why not joy that freedom is given a chance? Today, more than ever, Mao Zedong’s old motto is pertinent: “There is great chaos under heaven – the situation is excellent.”
Hear Zizek explain that quote, starting at 20:15, using Tom or Jerry to illustrate his point.
Follow Motherboard on the Twitter.
Filed under:
About the author
Email: alexp at motherboard dot tv. @pasternack,
