A Brief Clarification about Populism : By: Slavoj Žižek

[Ichingcarpenter]

The message of much mainstream propaganda is a resigned conviction that the world we live in, even if not the best of all possible worlds, is the least bad one, so that any radical change can only make it worse. This is why all forms of resistance, from Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain to Latin American “populisms,” should be fully supported

snip


We are today under a tremendous pressure of what we should unashamedly call enemy propaganda – let me quote Alain Badiou, “The goal of all enemy propaganda is not to annihilate an existing force (this function is generally left to police forces), but rather to annihilate an unnoticed possibility of the situation.” In other words, they are trying to kill hope: the message of this propaganda is a resigned conviction that the world we live in, even if not the best of all possible worlds, is the least bad one, so that any radical change can only make it worse. This is why all forms of resistance, from Syriza in Greece and Podemos in Spain to Latino American “populisms,” should be fully supported. Yes, we should submit them to a severe critique where needed, but it should be strictly an internal critique, a critique of our allies. As Mao ze Dong would have put it, these tensions are “contradictions within the people,” not contradictions between the people and its enemies.


Slavoj Žižek:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavoj_%C5%BDi%C5%BEek





http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/A-Brief-Clarification-about-Populism-20150424-0013.html

[msongs]

1. another critic of the TPP and its process nt

[sabrina 1]

2. I agree with this:

In other words, they are trying to kill hope: the message of this propaganda is a resigned conviction that the world we live in, even if not the best of all possible worlds, is the least bad one, so that any radical change can only make it worse.

It works too, see all the admonitions we hear even here, 'the worst Democrat is better than the best Republican' eg.

'Think about the SC' or 'I will vote for the nominee even though I am not thrilled about it'

There is no expectation that we could change things if EVERYONE was willing to be committed to it.

Apathy, 'just let our team win and things will at least not get any worse'.

Good article, thanks for posting.

[aspirant]

3. They have turned

American society into a team concept.

Sports, politics, schools, labor (Burger King Teams with uniforms) etc, and now the multinationals are trying to dissolve American pride.

[Cosmic Kitten]

4. Digging his emphasis on Ontology!

The idea that ideology is a social fiction
seems to parallel the idea that ego
is a personal fiction.

Both serve similar purposes.
And both become pathological
when they are distortions.

Ontology...

[swilton]

5. Jurgen Habermas

(b. 1929) The role of mass culture is to portray the world as rational, socially just and unchangeable. (my own paraphrase)