Identity holds little importance in overall value; certain identities may appear appealing due to the promise of wholeness but are unappealing to those who recognize their alienation. Embracing one's alienation dampens a desire to invest in reactionary identities. The crux of significance lies in self-distance, suggesting that the ability to detach from one's identity is more crucial than the identity itself. Privilege is not a necessary aspect of identity, emphasizing the importance of one's relationship with their identity rather than the identity itself.
Alright this week Todd McGowan is back on the podcast to talk about his most recent book Embracing Alienation Why We Shouldn't Try to Find Ourselves.
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You can also listen to our episode on Alienation as a concept in Żižek's work here!
The subject is divided from itself even in the form in which it is completely at home...so in this first episode we're talking the status of alienation in our current context of serial crisis and what Anna Kornbluh describes as cultural immediacy.
What does a politics of alienation have to say about ‘the day after’ or how would it look in the day after? What is the significance of place and community? Why is the violence of the death drive and its self-sabotage the first emancipation that subsequently establishes the pattern for all later political acts of emancipation?
We also get into Žižek's ontology & fate, determinism, and the forced choice of alienation.
Part two will be out next week...
Enjoy!