Too Late to Awaken: What Lies Ahead When There Is No Future

“Multiple kinds of self-destruction” threaten modern civilization, making the future seem like a “fixed point,” according to this thought-provoking treatise from philosopher Žižek (Christian Atheism). He argues that the solution to this predestined mindset is to reexplore the past, rescuing revolutionary ideas from a contemporary ideological framework that robs them of vigor and usefulness (“Neo-Fascist or neoliberal digestive enzymes are removing the radical acidity of the ideas they’ve swallowed, and turning them into pieces of shit that smoothly fit the existing global capitalist system”). Surveying recent world events, Žižek explains how this quelling of ideas happens, from “the ongoing ‘woke’ movement,” which he argues “awakens us... precisely to enable us to go on sleeping,” to the Ukraine War, coverage of which he contends is poisoned by “realpolitik” and a misguided search for “complexity” behind Russia’s invasion. Žižek brings his signature levity with pop-cultural critiques (regarding John Lennon’s “Imagine”: “Imagining that a world could, eventually, ‘live as one’ is the best way to end up in hell”) and his ambivalent hopefulness (“Are we ready to do this? I doubt it. But why not?”). It’s a deceptively optimistic call to action. (Jan.)