Good god, this brings it all home, does it not? We speak this whole time about high minded ideals, but for many, too many, this is no mental exercise; rather it is a question of survival and building a life worth living. I think we could learn much from such perspectives. Not that we should lose sight of the larger issues at hand, but we should be willing and able to realize the actual cost that so many must bear. When I hear such testimonies, I am forced to think that you, I, Slavoj Žižek, the interviewees, and all of the online contributors must reevaluate what we actually mean when we dare speak of things such as the “good” and what would be best for the whole. I want to go to space and shoot some aliens, but how does this help our fellow human beings feed themselves and theirs? Does the solution really lie with an anarchist destruction of property and a return to primitivism, a sharing, peer to peer economy, a reevaluation of ecology, a redefinition of the nation state, a possible immortal future, a long-term outlook, or a regulated expansion of the human race into space? The immediacy of these real problems seem to supersede such intellectual gymnastics. Perhaps we can find long-term solutions to these immediate problems, yet the problems remain immediate for too many. I have no solutions, unfortunately, but a step forward, instead of a step back, might be in order.
Aengus Anderson / 7-12-2012 / ·
I’ve been hoping the shorts would be a counterweight to the long conversations for this very reason. I need to go out and actually record more of them. Maybe this brief stop in Laramie, WY will yield exactly this sort of opportunity.
Good god, this brings it all home, does it not? We speak this whole time about high minded ideals, but for many, too many, this is no mental exercise; rather it is a question of survival and building a life worth living. I think we could learn much from such perspectives. Not that we should lose sight of the larger issues at hand, but we should be willing and able to realize the actual cost that so many must bear. When I hear such testimonies, I am forced to think that you, I, Slavoj Žižek, the interviewees, and all of the online contributors must reevaluate what we actually mean when we dare speak of things such as the “good” and what would be best for the whole. I want to go to space and shoot some aliens, but how does this help our fellow human beings feed themselves and theirs? Does the solution really lie with an anarchist destruction of property and a return to primitivism, a sharing, peer to peer economy, a reevaluation of ecology, a redefinition of the nation state, a possible immortal future, a long-term outlook, or a regulated expansion of the human race into space? The immediacy of these real problems seem to supersede such intellectual gymnastics. Perhaps we can find long-term solutions to these immediate problems, yet the problems remain immediate for too many. I have no solutions, unfortunately, but a step forward, instead of a step back, might be in order.
I’ve been hoping the shorts would be a counterweight to the long conversations for this very reason. I need to go out and actually record more of them. Maybe this brief stop in Laramie, WY will yield exactly this sort of opportunity.