Zizek: The subject supposed to loot and rape

[billr]

According to a well-known anecdote, anthropologists studying “primitives” who supposedly held certain superstitious beliefs (that they descend from a fish or from a bird, for example) asked them directly whether they “really” believed such things. They answered: “Of course not—we‘re not stupid! But I was told that some of our ancestors actually did believe that.” In short, they transferred their belief onto another.

We do the same thing ...


http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2361/

[Igel]

1. F --> T is a true statement.

It doesn't bear on the matter of looting, but it does bear on the writer's logic. If all the assertions were true, and the rational for saying them false, the conclusion would still be true. This is usually the hardest line in a truth table to get accepted.

Most of my fellow students wanted to have F --> T be false.

[tishaLA]

2. Interesting piece

I've often been critical of him, but Zizek is an astute social critic. His points about New Orleans, race, transference, and the "subjet-suppose-savoir" are really important.