“I think that the task of philosophy is not to provide answers, but to show how the way we perceive a problem can be itself part of a problem.” ThinkingWayPhilosophyShowsProblemAnswersTasksPerceive Author:Slavoj Žižek
“Obama has already demonstrated an extraordinary ability to change the limits of what one can say publicly. His greatest achievement up to now is that, in his refined non-provocative way, he has introduced into public speech topics which had hitherto been de facto unsayable: the continuing importance of race in politics, the positive role of atheists in public life, the necessity to talk with "enemies" like Iran or Hamas, and so on. This is just what US politics needs today more than anything, if it is to break out of its gridlock: new words which will change the way we think and act.” IfsThinkingWayNeedsTodayAbilityRaceEnemyRolesBreakLimitsSpeechAchievementImportanceExtraordinaryAtheistIranContinuingTopicsPublic LifeRefinedProvocativeBreak OutHamasGreatest AchievementNew WordsAbility To ChangeGridlock Author:Slavoj Žižek
“My big fear is that if I act the way I am, people will notice that there is nothing to see. So I have to be active all the time, covering up.” PeopleIfsWayBigsActiveCovering Author:Slavoj Žižek
“I planted some jokes in my wedding. Like, the organizers asked me to select music. So when I approached wife at the ceremony, they played the second movement from Shostakovich's 10th Symphony, which is usually known as the "portrait of Stalin." And then when we embraced, the music that they played was Schubert's "Death and the Maiden." I enjoyed this in a childish way! But marriage was all a nightmare and so on and so on.” WayKnownWifeMovementJokesEnjoyedNightmarePortraitsCeremonySymphonySelectMaidensOrganizerSchubertShostakovich Author:Slavoj Žižek
“What if the way we perceive a problem is already part of the problem?” IfsWayProblemPerceiveWhat If Author:Slavoj Žižek
“In Stalinism, everybody was potentially a victim in a totally contingent way.” WayVictimStalinism Author:Slavoj Žižek
“You can be a fanatical millennialist religious mystic, and you are, in a certain way, not outside of ideology. Your position can be that of perfectly describing the data and nonetheless your point is ideological.” WayCertainReligiousPositionIdeologyDataDescribingIdeologicalMystic Author:Slavoj Žižek
“Often, the worst way to become prisoner of a system is to have a dream that things may turn better, there is always the possibility of change. Because it is precisely this secret dream that keeps you enslaved to the system.” WayMayDreamTurnsSecretWorstPossibilityPrisonerPossibility Of Change Author:Slavoj Žižek
“You could say, in a vulgar Freudian way, that I am the unhappy child who escapes into books. Even as a child, I was most happy being alone. This has not changed.” WayChildrenBookChangedUnhappyThriveBeing HappyVulgar Author:Slavoj Žižek
“We have all the freedoms we want. But what we are missing is red ink: the language to articulate our non-freedom. The way we are taught to speak about freedom- war on terror and so on-falsifies freedom.” WayWantWarSpeakLanguageMissingTaughtHeroRedTerrorHeroicInkWar On Terror Author:Slavoj Žižek
“I believe in clear-cut positions. I think that the most arrogant position is this apparent, multidisciplinary modesty of "what I am saying now is not unconditional, it is just a hypothesis," and so on. It really is a most arrogant position. I think that the only way to be honest and expose yourself to criticism is to state clearly and dogmatically where you are. You must take the risk and have a position.” ThinkingWayBelieveStatesI BelieveClearCuttingRiskHonestPositionCommitmentCriticismI Believe InBeing HonestWhere You AreArrogantModestyHypothesisUnconditionalBoldnessMost ArrogantMultidisciplinary Author:Slavoj Žižek
“Zionism itself has paradoxically come to adopt some antisemitic logic in its hatred of Jews who do not fully identify with the politics of the state of Israel. Their target, the figure of the Jew who doubts the Zionist project, is constructed in the same way as the European antisemites constructed the figures of the Jew – he is dangerous because he lives among us, but is not really one of us.” WayStatesDoubtDangerousFiguresProjectsHatredLogicJewIsraelTargetZionistZionism Author:Slavoj Žižek