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willow @dreary.dev

zizek, sublime object of ideology, pg 23

If our concept of ideology remains the classic one in which the
illusion is located in knowledge, then today’s society must appear
post-ideological: the prevailing ideology is that of cynicism; people
no longer believe in ideological truth; they do not take ideological
propositions seriously. The fundamental level of ideology, however, is
not that of an illusion masking the real state of things but that of an
(unconscious) fantasy structuring our social reality itself. And at this
level, we are of course far from being a post-ideological society.
Cynical distance is just one way – one of many ways – to blind
ourselves to the structuring power of ideological fantasy: even if we
do not take things seriously, even if we keep an ironical distance, we
are still doing them.
It is from this standpoint that we can account for the formula of
cynical reason proposed by Sloterdijk: ‘they know very well what
they are doing, but still, they are doing it’. If the illusion were on the
side of knowledge, then the cynical position would really be a postideological position, simply a position without illusions: ‘they know
what they are doing, and they are doing it’. But if the place of the
illusion is in the reality of doing itself, then this formula can be read in
quite another way: ‘they know that, in their activity, they are following
an illusion, but still, they are doing it’. For example, they know that
their idea of Freedom is masking a particular form of exploitation, but
they still continue to follow this idea of Freedom.

February 26, 2025 at 12:45 PM

willowFeb 26, 2025

it’s so awesome that i ceased mental development 2 years ago

willowJun 19, 2024

Zizek, The Sublime Object of Ideology, pg. 19

willowFeb 26, 2025

more accurately, i’ve significantly atrophied since then.