This pretty much covers cultural capitalism:
Issues Pages:
Slavoj Žižek: Charity and Capitalism, perfect bedfellows
Wed, 2010-08-04 14:47
#1
Catchfire
Slavoj Žižek: Charity and Capitalism, perfect bedfellows
Wed, 2010-08-04 12:45
#2
N.Beltov
These whiteboards are getting more and more interesting. They make use of the well known fact, among teachers at least, that we all have different learning styles and that, therefore, a variety of methods ought to be used to teach new material. Furthermore, even if we have no difficulties absorbing new material by, say, listening only, nevertheless the oversaturation - or whatever you want to call it - of the same material using different methods probably helps us to absorb the material more quickly, more thoroughly, and so on.
babble has a YouTube thread, CMOT's various threads, etc. Why not a whiteboard thread of left educational resources?
Wed, 2010-08-04 14:46
#3
Catchfire
This is an appropriate and timely story related to the OP:
Thirty US billionaires pledge to give away half their fortunes to charity
The world of philanthropy got a huge financial boost today as more than 30 American billionaires pledged to give away at least half of their fortunes to charitable causes, signing up to a campaign launched by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.In an unprecedented mass commitment, top figures including New York's mayor Michael Bloomberg, the hotel heir Barron Hilton, CNN media mogul Ted Turner, and the Star Wars director George Lucas lent their names to the "giving pledge", an initiative founded last month to encourage America's richest families to commit money to "society's most pressing problems".
The pledge is not a legally binding contract but is described as a moral commitment. Buffett, the legendary Nebraska-based financier known as the "sage of Omaha", welcomed the influx of support: "At its core, the giving pledge is about asking wealthy families to have important conversations about their wealth and how it will be used. We're delighted that so many people are doing that."
Wed, 2010-08-04 16:36
#4
I thought the David Harvey one was excellent, but to be honest, the more I listen to Zizek the less I am a fan of him.
Wed, 2010-08-04 16:43
#5
Catchfire
Why, because he's sweaty? A forceful point. But what's wrong with the lecture in the OP? I think it's Slavoj at his best. And so on.
Wed, 2010-08-04 17:02
#6
N.Beltov
Yes, 3 cheers for sweaty, old theoreticians. He hasn't strangled his wife, has he?
Wed, 2010-08-04 18:34
#7
Great linework.
The development of the ideas could have been a bit more organised.
Wed, 2010-08-04 20:22
#8
laine lowe
I thought Slavo's video was brilliant.
The fact that charity has become a marketing ploy for consumption is extremely troublesome. Have I ever expressed how much I hate the pink ribbon campaign that is so pervasive - from soup cans to high end fashion.
Wed, 2010-08-04 20:25
#9
Cueball
Yes, 3 cheers for sweaty, old theoreticians. He hasn't strangled his wife, has he?
Now that it very obscure, and very dark.
Wed, 2010-08-04 21:39
#10
I thought Slavo's video was brilliant.
The fact that charity has become a marketing ploy for consumption is extremely troublesome. Have I ever expressed how much I hate the pink ribbon campaign that is so pervasive - from soup cans to high end fashion.
Is that necessarily a bad thing?
To quote Iron Man 2 of all things, Downey (as Tony Stark aka Iron Man) says "I have successfully privatized world peace". While I think that privatisation causes far more harm than good, and therefore could not lead to world peace outside of a comic movie, if someone actually did that, i could overlook the privatisation if they delivered on the world peace.
The problem with the marketing gimmick, as far as I can see, is that it creates an illusory benefit.
Wed, 2010-08-04 22:04
#11
laine lowe
Sorry but the incremental advancements to cancer treatment, and expecially breast cancer treatment, have not convinced me that their hyper campaigning has made much of a difference in outcomes. There is an amazing lack of transperancy when it comes to how those research dollars are spent.
Wed, 2010-08-04 23:58
#12
N.Beltov
To quote Iron Man 2 of all things, Downey (as Tony Stark aka Iron Man) says "I have successfully privatized world peace". While I think that privatisation causes far more harm than good, and therefore could not lead to world peace outside of a comic movie, if someone actually did that, i could overlook the privatisation if they delivered on the world peace.The problem with the marketing gimmick, as far as I can see, is that it creates an illusory benefit.
The problem with the marketing gimmick is that it's no benefit at all. The film Iron Man is an example of films that are advertisements for themselves. I could not bother to watch IM 2 as IM 1 consisted of one product placement after another. It was rubbish. It's Ronald McDonald. Why I should pay for such shit is beyond me.
Adorno once perceptively claimed that most films are advertisements for themselves. Trailers are thus the truth of the film for which the film is the advert.
Thu, 2010-08-05 00:00
#13
Yes, 3 cheers for sweaty, old theoreticians. He hasn't strangled his wife, has he?
Now that it very obscure, and very dark.
Sounds like a reference to Althusser.
Thu, 2010-08-05 00:06
#14
N.Beltov
yup.
Thu, 2010-08-05 00:16
#15
RevolutionPlease
It's funny to see these billionaires start their "charitable foundations" and get uncritical press. Do they even ask questions? Are they blind to what this is? They're going to come out ahead after tax loopholes. What a farce.
Thu, 2010-08-05 00:21
#16
N.Beltov
Well, yes, and BP will be making US taxpayers PAY for the cleanup by writing off over 1/3 of the cost on their tax bill. And this despite the big words of Pres. Barak Oblama that this would not happen.
I think Zizec's argument stands anyway, without the tax loopholes. In the case of billionaire Bill Gates, the "gifting" of PCs to poorer countries helps build/retain the market share for Windoze operating systems.
Thu, 2010-08-05 00:31
#17
Catchfire
I think these billionaires woud still fit into the "old school" type of capitalist that Žižek references at the beginning of the lecture: "Make money in the morning, give half of it away in the afternoon." The new kind would indeed be someone like BP talking about their environmental initiatives, etc. Or, on a smaller level, me buying gas from Esso because they have the cleanest stuff. It's about both taking and smiling-villain-giving in the same gesture--wonderfully exemplified by Beltov's Adorno/Power quote. "Trailers are thus the truth of the film for which the film is the advert." Love it!
Thu, 2010-08-05 01:17
#18
N.Beltov
Yes, and you see that with really, really bad films (or pornos!) in which you find yourself fast forwarding through the film to the good parts - or what you HOPE are some good parts - this trailer as the truth claim hits you over the head with a hammer. And you lament the cold, hard cash - and time you wasted - that you won't get back. Our current society's spiritual impoverishment is ... breathtaking.
Incidently, Nina Power wrote "One Dimensional Women" which is supposed to be a good read.
Thu, 2010-08-05 14:45
#19
Why, because he's sweaty? A forceful point. But what's wrong with the lecture in the OP? I think it's Slavoj at his best. And so on.
I don't think this lecture was was too bad, but when it comes to Zizek, I find that a lot of the time he seems to be all over the place in his criticisms and a lot of the times he focuses in on cultural things to the detriment of any structual analysis of capitalism. For example, saying that charity is the "basic constituent of our economy" seems a little out there. And a couple other things in the video rubbed me the wrong way, such as how he talks about "cultual capitalism" and whatnot. Most of his work just seems a little to postmodern for my tastes.
Thu, 2010-08-05 14:46
#20
Incidently, Nina Power wrote "One Dimensional Women" which is supposed to be a good read.
We did a reading group on it recently. I thought it wasn't a bad read, but a few people in the group hated it.