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Rec'd on šŸ“œ how to learn about politics?
Pervert's Guide to Ideology & Capitalist Realism
I know slavoj zizek is a fucking loser now, but his movie A Pervert's Guide to Ideology was the first piece of media that began to rub away the sheen/shellac of pretense that the world operates smoothly. It was my first time really engaging with a Marxian analysis and sitting with it. I was in high school, and it set me up to care about critical theory. From this movie, I'd read Mark Fisher's really quick book "Capitalist Realism: is there no alternative?" Fisher grounds a lot of his theory in culture/media in a very similar way to Zizek. After that, I'd follow recommendations made by others in the thread!
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@fetadata
Jun 18, 2024
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@marxinista
capitalist realism is greatā€¦ itā€™s dense but i also like ā€œcapital is dead. is this something worse?ā€ by mckenzie wark which has some interesting critiques mentioned about capitalist realism. not the main focus of the book but itā€™s interesting
Jun 19, 2024
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@fetadata
marxinista okay so I have a terrible memory but I think I struggled with capital is dead... I felt like Wark didn't really address the sheer amount of manual labor that goes into managing information... But I guess since that's not the mechanism of accumulation it doesn't disprove anything...? IDK I need to go back and reread it!!
Jun 19, 2024
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@marxinista
fetadata def some of it went over my head bc my engagement with critical theories have been primarily from a sociological lens! so parts of it veered a little far into philosophy for me lol. but the way i was understanding it was kind of that it was partially building on marxā€™s theory of superstructure and expanding on his theory (and engelsā€™) of ways the ruling class rules dominant ideas too? by focusing on how itā€™s not merely a relationship within society related to class, but the increased importance/presence of information in shaping the world (and social/class relations) has made information a form of capital
Jun 19, 2024
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@fetadata
marxinista appreciate this synopsis !!! Gonna have to skim this book today and reconsider it !!!
Jun 19, 2024
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ŽIŽEK
reading this one of his at the moment and really enjoying it! aside from being the most culturally relevant philosopher of our time, heā€™s also pretty accessible in terms of his thought. he makes a lot of apt social critique and also meta-critique of other thinkers. he provides examples based in pop culture a lot which makes his ideas easy to conceptualize. there are definitely some very jargon heavy passages where he explains his logical and dialectical frameworks by which he reaches his conclusions (which is a great way to be introduced to the philosophical process and get familiar with the techniques), but you can easily get by skimming those passages to get to the conclusions. thatā€™s what I do mostly, but I want to come back to it eventually with a better grasp of his techniques. he has a ton of different books so pick whichever piques your interest. if you like capitalist critique, freudian and kantian philosophy, logical qualms, ethical dilemmas, and commentary on the big issues of our time, get žižek pilled.
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@royallmonarch
3d ago
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Slow down by Kohei Saito followed by Surplus Enjoyment by Zizek
intro to anti-capitalism and marxist-aligned alternatives via the path of ecological collapse, followed by broader cultural criticism about the sources of the issue (Zizek directly references Saito as an important contributor to his thought as well)
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@royallmonarch
Jun 6, 2025
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Capitalist Realism by Mark Fisher
I honestly hadnā€™t heard about this book until I saw a shit ton of memes about it a few years ago. Capitalist Realism is a very worthwhile read and I can definitely see why it's so popular now. Fisher does a great job articulating the cultural experience of neoliberalism. This book set me on the right path in life. I also got much smarter and more attractive after reading it.
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