/lit/ - Literature

[mike wazowski No.1419348]

whats with zizek always going on about ecology being the new communism and that we need to alienate ourselves from nature. is he loco?

[Anonymous No.1419350]

He's so sane he just blew your mind

[Anonymous No.1419357]

No, he's just pretentious.

[Anonymous No.1419370]

You talking about that Examined Life movie? That movie kinda sucked, but at least it's kinda like a Waking Life, only with people who might actually be worth listening to. Cornell West had the best segment, I thought.

Anyhow, I forgot what exactly Zizek said in that movie about alienating ourselves from nature, but I DO remember thinking it made sense when I watched it.

Oh yeah, Hardt was pretty good in it too.

[Anonymous No.1419379]

more or less that wrt global warming people, even those who are leftwing, go outside and look at their suburbs and think "well it doesnt look so bad". like communism was in the west, environmentalists are removed from the impact, so they dont have immediacy.

[Anonymous No.1419384]

He thinks we need to alienate ourselves because the idea that we are inseparable from nature promotes the idea that nature is the immutable backdrop to our lives and can't be significantly damaged or destroyed by our actions (if we're still around, so is it). But, by alienating ourselves and viewing it as a kind of "standing reserve" of resources to be consumed, we can better view it as a fragile and limited thing, something whose destruction is a real possibility and threat. That would, he thinks, resolve the paradox of people who recognize on an intellectual level that the environment is being severely damaged but who don't then put that understanding into action (they are paralyzed by the first myth). If you adopt a more utilitarian perspective on nature, we will be more willing to act to protect it.