this is not new, either. it's good that this is chomsky, because he's the go-to guy to expose that entire school of sophistry. but, there have always been sophists. and there have always been fools willing to give those sophists their money.
you should have listened to chomsky.
and, in the end that might be the chapter in the history book on the era of the american empire. you can imagine it in the table of contents...
the british empire.............................10063
the american empire........................26575
the new chinese empire...................26576
26575
The American Empire
shouldda listened to chomsky.
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i remember an old friend showing up at my place with a zizek video sometime in the mid 00s, thinking i'd enjoy it. my reaction was the standard reaction one gets from actual smart and actual educated people that are not easily hypnotized by his psycho-babble: he just rambled for an hour without actually saying anything.
rather than take my far more educated opinion on the topic seriously, he gave me the standard kneejerk, which i suspect is a part of the orientation material (no doubt sold separately, or perhaps free with orders of a certain magnitude):
"you just didn't understand it."
sure. right. went right over my head, man.
he's not a stalinist, but he does flirt with the worst tendencies on the right. and, he should not be taken seriously by anybody that is remotely left of center.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/02/08/zize-f08.html
no, honestly, though. you might think a zizek "concert" is full of philosophy students. but, ask around. my experience is that your average zizek "fan" is actually somebody that thought they were too smart for school and may or may not have bothered to finish grade 12.
that's the ruse: he sells nonsense to idiots that spend their whole lives failing, who then get to feel superior because they understand things that the smart kids don't. and, the more that actual academics smack this nonsense down, the more elite the failures get to feel.
there's maybe something to all the reverse psychology. but, what that something is is a tactic to sell shit to the people that are buying it. nor is this particularly novel. as mentioned: there have always been sophists, and there have always been people willing to give them money.
it's just as simple as giving losers a way out of feeling inferior. that's always a good business model. they're not stupid, after all. they get the secret knowledge. they're the special ones. it's the kids that went to school that are stupid, and don't get it.
and, political movements have always had to find a way to inoculate themselves against this kind of anti-intellectualism, under threat of collapse into absurdity.