He holds degrees in psychoanalysis, philosophy and sociology and, as well as being a towering public intellectual. I was at the Slavoj Zizek lecture hosted by the Sigmund Frued Society last night. This guy rocks. The title of the lecture was on the Amorous Enlightenment of Adults but the ideas were vast, varied and full of velocity. Slavoj has so many nervous ticks and mannerisms (as well as a chronic lisp), that it’s sometimes hard to concentrate on the incredible and controversial ideas he has, so I really had to listen carefully. The lecture which went well over time was followed up by a Q&A which went equally over time, but it still left the 300 strong crowd wanting more. I’ll post the video here when it goes online, but until then, here’s a 'lil link to Slavoj Zizek lecturing against happiness.
"The modern marketplace is full of products deprived of their malignant quiality, coffee without caffeine, cream without cream, beer without alcohol, meat without fat. Virtual sex witout sex. This is the paradox of want. Everything is permitted, you can enjoy everything, but it has to be deprived of it's dangerous quality. So if we want to enjoy a full life of happiness you should avoid dangerous excess, take care of your health and so on and so on. So, it is precisely when you want to have a life full of pleasure dedicated just to your happiness, that you end up in a totally regulated socety. There has never been a society as the one we live in today"
I tole ya he was controversial.
