I first came across Zizek while watching a program called “Who am I?” which was broadcast across Korea, where academics speak about the meaning of life, or something rather. One of the featured academics on this show was Slavoj Zizek, and he caught my eye immediately.

First of all, his delivery was something else. An unidentifiable European accent coupled with slightly slurred speech and motor-tics, he immediately gave the aura of being one of a kind. The content of the talk itself was also interesting, he went from talking about the history of capitalism in Korea, most particularly the rise of capitalism following the brutal Japanese occupation of 1910 – 1945, to the political movements of the left wing, to the election of Syriza in Greece.

I did what most people do when they find an academic they like, which is search for his content on YouTube. I found thousands of videos of debates, talks, lectures, and interestingly a documentary film featuring this academic powerhouse.

If you’re new to Zizek, in a nutshell, he is a post-modern Slovenian Neo-Marxist Philosopher, Psychoanalyst and cultural critic. Members of the radical left hate him for his outspoken nature on many issues, particularly for supporting Trump during the 2016 US election. The conservative right hate him for calling for the end of capitalism, and his advocacy for communism.

I have read three (Well… two and a half) of Zizek’s books. Namely, Against the Double Blackmail: Refugees, Terror and Other Troubles with the Neighbours, Trouble in Paradise: From the End of History to the End of Capitalism, and Enjoy Your Symptom!

These three books differ greatly in subject-matter, however one thing is clear: Zizek is obsessed with ideology. Ideology is responsible for everything according to Zizek, and ideology is used as propaganda to control populations. Zizek looks at everyday objects or commodities and somehow relates them back to philosophy or brands them as ideological objects.

Take, for example, this video of Zizek talking about the chocolate egg Kinder Surprise. He calls it a “most astonishing commodity” and goes on to say that it is today’s equivalent of an ancient Greek vase.

He makes quirky insight to today’s society and Pop Culture, which makes for interesting discourse. Sometimes the references to Pop Culture are for film and literature connoisseurs only, which is why I gave up on reading Enjoy Your Symptom!, an introduction to Lacanian Philosophy through Film (Zizek is a card-carrying Lacanian and Freudian). The biggest problem I have with Zizek is I wonder if this man is crazy or just a genius far beyond his time.

I showed my mother the video of Zizek talking about Kinder Surprise. She simply wrote him off as a crazy old man. But his actual insight and analysis in context seems logical. Sometimes. He somehow managed to relate the Lion King to the Holocaust, and did the same with Pokemon Go. He claims that the motive behind Pokemon to “Catch ’em all” is the very same which was used during the Third Reich for Nazis to “catch” all the Jews. This to me doesn’t make much sense, but his train of thought seems to make sense at least to him.

Be that as it may, I first grew interested in Zizek’s literature due to his adversity to capitalism, however when I read his work Trouble in Paradise, he endlessly critiqued capitalism before admitting that he himself had no solution, and then said that a solution will surely emerge in time.

Isn’t critiquing without offering any solutions a mere gloating of intellect and inflation of ego? In some cases, maybe. I myself am guilty of doing this. But maybe Zizek wants to instigate an anti-capitalist brainstorm which will lead to a genuinely better world. Or maybe he is just a provocateur who gets rich off his notoriety. I am undecided on which is the truth.

Maybe he is just crazy. Maybe he is an absolute genius, a modern-day Socrates. Maybe he is both. You decide.

By Carrot.