Jack Semancik’s Reviews > Zero Point > Status Update

In “Heroes of the Metaverse”, Zizek compares the more recognisably feudal aspects of the breakdown of society and government in Libya, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo with the neo-feudal economic order that is emerging in the Developed World. Rather than withering away as Marx predicted, Zizek (referencing Yanis Varoufakis) suggests that capitalism is reinventing the feudal order it replaced.

In “Worlds Blown Into Space” (a play on Nietzsche’s phrase from Ecce Homo), Zizek reframes the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a war against the European Enlightenment (or, perhaps more narrowly, as a war against Enlightenment ideals). He depicts Russia as “defending” a fictionalised, mythical Eurasian culture/identity in this war. Whether or not they truly believe their own words, they turn them to action.

“What Hysterics Only Dream About” offers a defence of Lacan and psychoanalysis, posing it as a necessary force in ordering a proper amount of shame and dignity into our lives. Zizek briefly explains the socio-political ramifications of this idea.

Zizek affirms the power of words in the global system, especially in the case of Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Zizek advocates the recognition of Palestine and the fulfilment of the ICC arrest warrant against Israeli officials. Zizek concludes with the assertion that the horrors of reality may be used to escape from the futility of fantasy (Zizek’s implied psychoanalysis of the Israeli government’s motives).

Zizek, in reacting to the reelection of Donald Trump, discusses the larger paradigm shift involved in “Trumpian politics”; for example, that the vulgarity of Trump’s political rhetoric masks the anti-populist policies contained within his populist messaging.