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Recently, there was an interesting dig made at Slavoj Zizek from Naom Chomsky which you can listen to here:

Tagged: Birkbeck Critical Theory Summer School, Empirical, Naom Chomsky, Slavoj Zizek, Theory Permalink 8 Comments

Zizeks Response to Chomsky

The gist is that Zizek and Lacan et al are posturing charlatans using fancy terms Posted by esjaybe July 15, 2013 and pretending to have theory when they have no theory whatsoever (by which he means scientific empirical testable conclusions). You can hear Zizeks response here (from 1hr 30mins in) at a recent panel at Birkbeck in London:

http://backdoorbroadcasting.net/archive/audio/2012_07_12/2012_07_12_London_Critical_Theory_Summer_School_201 But here is a transcript of his response which I have typed up because I think it points to some interesting arguments against certain types of empirical research and the importance of theory: What is that about, again, the academy and Chomsky and so on? Well with all deep respect that I do have for Chomsky, my first point is that Chomsky who always emphasises how one has to be empirical, accurate, not just some crazy Lacanian speculations and so on well I dont think I know a guy who was so often empirically wrong in his descriptions in his whatever!

Lets look I remember when he defended this demonisation of Khmer Rouge. And he wrote a couple of texts claiming: no this is western propaganda. Khmer Rouge are not as horrible as that. And when later he was compelled to admit that Khmer Rouge were not the nicest guys in the universe and so on, his defence was quite shocking for me. It was that no, with the data that we had at that point, I was right. At that point we didnt yet know enough, so you know but I totally reject this line of reasoning. For example, concerning Stalinism. The point is not that you have to know, you have to photo evidence of gulag or whatever. My god you just have to listen to the public discourse of Stalinism, of Khmer Rouge, to get it that something terrifyingly pathological is going on there. For example, Khmer Rouge: even if we have no data about their prisons and so on, isnt it in a perverse way almost fascinating to have a regime which in the first two years (75 to 77) behaved towards itself, treated itself, as illegal. You know the regime was nameless. It was called alka [?] an organisation not communist party of Cambodia an organisation. Leaders were nameless. If you ask who is my leader? your head was chopped off immediately and so on. Ok, next point about Chomsky, you know the consequence of this attitude of his empirical and so on and thats my basic difference with him and precisely Corey Robinson and some other people talking with him recently confirmed this to me. His idea is today that cynicism of those in power is so open that we dont need any critique of ideology, you reach automatically between the lines, everything is cynically openly admitted, we just have to bring out the facts of people. Like this company is profiting in Iraq and so on and so on. Here I violently disagree. First, more than ever today, our daily life is ideology. How can you doubt ideology when recently I think Paul Krugman published a relatively good text where he demonstrated how this idea of austerity: this is not even good bourgeois economic theory! Its a kind of a primordial, common sense magical thinking when you confront a crisis oh, we must have done something wrong, we spent too much so lets economise and so on and so on. My second point, cynicists are those who are most prone to fall in to illusions. Cynicists are not people who see things the way they really are and so on. Think about 2008 and the ongoing financial crisis, it was not

cooked up in some crazy welfare state; social democrats who are spending too much. The crisis exploded because of activity of those other cynicists who precisely thought screw human rights, screw dignity, all that matters is and so on and so on So as to this problem of are we studying the facts enough I claim emphatically more than ever no today. And as to popularity, I get a little bit annoyed with this idea that we with our deep sophisms are really hegemonic in humanities. Are people crazy? I mean we are always marginal. No, what is for me real academic hegemony: its brutal, who can get academic posts? Who can get grants, foundations, as so on? We are totally marginalised here. I mean look at my position oh yeah you are a mega-star in United States well I would like to be because I would like power to brutally use it! But I am far from that. I react so like this because a couple of days ago I got a letter from a friend in United States for whom I wrote a letter of recommendation, and he told me I didnt get the job, not in spite of your letter but because of your letter! He had a spy in the committee and this spy told him you almost got it, but then somebody says oh, if Zizek recommends him it must be something terribly wrong with him So I claim that all these how popular we are is really a mask of remember the large majority of academia are these grey either cognitivists or historians blah blah and you dont see them but they are the power. They are the power. On the other hand, why are they in power worried? Because you know dont exaggerate this leftist paranoia idea that we can all be recuperated and so on and so on. No! I still quite naively believe in the efficiency of theoretical thinking. Its not as simple as to recuperate everything in. But you know there are different strategies of how to contain us, I must say that I maybe am not innocent in this, because people like to say about me oh, go and listen to him, he is an amusing clown blah blah blah This is another way to say dont take it seriously. But this is one of the strategies. You know there are so many strategies to counteract and the proof that we are not so impotent as innocent is how, did you notice how against you now [Douzinas] and against me this old line of oh these are crazy half-clownish marginals imperceptibly is more and more combined with the opposite line we are dangerous. we advocate violence. we are preparing a new holocaust or whatever. This is deeply

symptomatic, this mixture of we are powerless, innocent clowns to these guys are really dangerous preparing a new terror and so on. Of course, my heart is with the second position, but thats another story

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8 thoughts on Zizeks Response to Chomsky

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Cengiz Erdem says:

July 16, 2013 at 9:32 am Reblogged this on Senselogi. Reply

Brad says:
July 16, 2013 at 4:06 pm Corey Robinson not Colin, I think. Thanks for the post. Reply

esjaybe says:
July 16, 2013 at 4:07 pm Ah brilliant thanks Brad. Ill change that Reply

I.F. Youseekay Yew says:

July 16, 2013 at 7:52 pm Can someone post a link, or provide some evidence to Chomsky defending, or downplaying the actions of the Khmer Rouge? My memory is that he contrasted the the atrocities in Timor with the atrocities in Cambodia, saying they were equally horrible, but the Indonesians were acting with US blessing, weapons and funding and therefore did not receive the same media coverage. While Pol Pots gang of murderers were useful to maintaining official US propaganda. I have no memory of Chomsky ever being soft on the Cambodian genocide. Reply

HummusForThought says:
July 16, 2013 at 10:09 pm I think the part where Chomsky supposedly downplays the actions of the Khmer Rouge is just a distortion (http://bigwhiteogre.blogspot.com/2010/07/chomskys-views-on-khmer-rougedistorted.html). But besides that, its really interesting, this debate. I always felt like those two should sit down and debate the hell out of everything. Id pay big to make that happen. Reply

Pingback: Slavoj iek Responds to Noam Chomsky: I Dont Know a Guy Who Was So Often Empirically Wrong | wine making

AccidentallyHere says:
July 19, 2013 at 6:57 am Oh Id pay for that as well. That would be very interesting to listen to. Anyhow, I find this debate pretty interesting to follow. Reveals quite a lot of underlying cultural differences. The left in Europe and the US is worlds apart. Reply

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