37:28 Alfie echoes Zizek here-danger in narrowing/closure of cancelation/political correctness, the danger in the disappearance of joking, in the policing of trolling/laughter/play.. Zizek, Why Political Correctness Gets In Its Own Way, Big Think interview (2015): “You know once I made an interview where I was asked how do we find reactionary racism. You know what was my answer. With progressive racism. Then, ah, ah, what do you mean? Of course I didn’t mean racism. What I meant is the following things. Of course racist jokes and so on can be extremely oppressive, humiliating and so on. But the solution I think is to create an atmosphere or to practice these jokes in such a way that they really function as that little bit of obscene contact which establishes true proximity between us. And I’m talking from my own past political experience. Ex-Yugoslavia. I remember when I was young-when I met with other people from ex-Yugoslavia republics - Serbs, Croat, Bosnians and so on. We were all the time telling dirty jokes about each other. But not so much against the other. We were in a wonderful way competing who will be able to tell a nastier joke about ourselves. These were obscene racist jokes but their effect was a wonderful sense of shared obscene solidarity. And I have another proof here. Do you know that when civil war exploded in Yugoslavia, early nineties and already before in the eighties ethnic tensions. The first victims were these jokes, they immediately disappeared. Because people felt well that, for example, let’s say I visit another country. I hate this politically correct respect, oh, what is your food, what are your cultural forms. No, I tell them tell me a dirty joke about yourself and we will be friends and so on. It works. So you see this ambiguity - that’s my problem with political correctness. No it’s just a form of self-discipline which doesn’t really allow you to overcome racism.”
Thanks
37:28 Alfie echoes Zizek here-danger in narrowing/closure of cancelation/political correctness, the danger in the disappearance of joking, in the policing of trolling/laughter/play..
Zizek, Why Political Correctness Gets In Its Own Way, Big Think interview (2015):
“You know once I made an interview where I was asked how do we find reactionary racism. You know what was my answer. With progressive racism. Then, ah, ah, what do you mean? Of course I didn’t mean racism. What I meant is the following things. Of course racist jokes and so on can be extremely oppressive, humiliating and so on. But the solution I think is to create an atmosphere or to practice these jokes in such a way that they really function as that little bit of obscene contact which establishes true proximity between us.
And I’m talking from my own past political experience. Ex-Yugoslavia. I remember when I was young-when I met with other people from ex-Yugoslavia republics - Serbs, Croat, Bosnians and so on. We were all the time telling dirty jokes about each other. But not so much against the other. We were in a wonderful way competing who will be able to tell a nastier joke about ourselves. These were obscene racist jokes but their effect was a wonderful sense of shared obscene solidarity.
And I have another proof here. Do you know that when civil war exploded in Yugoslavia, early nineties and already before in the eighties ethnic tensions. The first victims were these jokes, they immediately disappeared. Because people felt well that, for example, let’s say I visit another country. I hate this politically correct respect, oh, what is your food, what are your cultural forms. No, I tell them tell me a dirty joke about yourself and we will be friends and so on. It works.
So you see this ambiguity - that’s my problem with political correctness. No it’s just a form of self-discipline which doesn’t really allow you to overcome racism.”