Bayarea415 was a big fan of him, and so am I. Žižek is an incredibly original thinker, easily top 100 of this century. Their documentaries Pervert’s Guide on Cinema/Ideology and Dreamworlds series are some of my favourite videos, and today I watched Žižek’s competition debate with Jordan Peterson, where the latter looked like a curious, heartbroken old man.
Wow. Maybe he should not be given a free pass, but his works and commentary on pretty much everything before Russia’s operation seemed to be insanely good.
A different take on this. I think it is the same thing that Chomsky (I do not like him much now) and other intellectuals have had to do, since USA and Europe intellectual figures do not have much choice but to survive through this time, when everyone can be labelled Russian/Chinese agent within a flicker moment. Zizek has a prominent voice in Europe.
I mean if his goal was to just survive he could just shut up instead of advocating for neoliberalism.
My guess was not far off. Žižek seems to have opted for safe haven in these weird times, compromising on his integrity. I expected him to be one of the last people to do this, but he seems to worry about his intellectual reach in West.