By David Futrelle
I was all prepared to do another post on something gobsmackingly terrible, and then I ran across this post from the Relationship subreddit popping on Twitter:
Ah, the age-old lament of the communist meme widow!
The original post has already been deleted from Reddit (though the comments still stand). But I was able to snag a screenshot from Twitter’s @Redditships and I present it to you now, with some highlights added by me:
Most of those responding on Twitter are going with jokes and memes and variations of “it me!” And I have to admit that the first thing I did was to make my own meme on the state of this poor woman’s relationship, swapping out the face of Jesus in an old meme for the face of Slavoj Žižek, the hot-dog-loving Marxist philosopher who for some reason just had a three-hour debate on Marxism with Jordan Peterson, who apparently has spent less time actually studying Marxism than he did debating it with the Ziz.
But all joking aside, I feel bad for the gal. Her meme-obsessed boyfriend is being a jerk towards her and should definitely spend less time pasting Žižek’s face into memes — though I would like to add that when a blogger does the same thing to make a point it’s perfectly fine, and it doesn’t mean he’s neglecting his cats.
The fact that this guy is ostensibly a lefty doesn’t absolve him. He’s really no different than the stereotypical aging jock who demands his wife or girlfriend shut up and leave him alone while he obsessively watches football, or whatever. I mean, it’s only been a few weeks since half the internet — justifiably — jumped on reactionary pundit Denise “D.C.” McAllister for trying to convince the women of America to become drink-servers for their sports-loving hubbies.
If you’re spending time with a person, spend your time with that person. It’s more than fine to have some time to yourself, even a lot of time, but don’t shut your partner out and stop asking them questions about their life. Come on dude, how funny are your Zizek memes anyway?
I mean, I just went through a whole bunch of Zizek memes and honestly most of them were terrible, not much better than the cringy Jordan Peterson memes his fans put together.
These were ok, though.
And, seriously, if you haven’t seen the video of him marching down the street with a half-eaten hot dog in each hand, munching furiously, you need to.
But enough about Zizek. My point is, relationships are more important than memes, and if you don’t realize that, you probably shouldn’t be in a relationship.
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Thought of this for some reason.
I wonder if when he goes climax, he says something like “Oh yes, i com-munism(t?)’ ?
@Ooglyboggles – That sounds really stressful – I’m so sorry that happened. I hope you can get to a better living space or at least keep your distance.
No one should use violence or threats to intimidate people. I was guilty of that towards my parents and brother when I was younger. The power dynamics were different, as I was the daughter, but it was still horrible of me.
While people can get out of those patterns, as I did, don’t trust the aunt if she says she’s sorry and she’ll stop it right away. (Maybe she’s not that type – maybe she’d just deny that she did something wrong). If you can I’d just avoid her entirely.
@all – I’m sorry to be all gloom and doom here, but another thing in the world is stressing me out, the attacks in Sri Lanka. My parents’ church has people with relatives there. And I’m sure that white supremacist terrorists will use this as an excuse for more violence.
>>>>And I’m sure that white supremacist terrorists will use this as an excuse for more violence.
Unfortunately, the answer is both yes and no.
Yes, because Islamic terrorists and Nazi ones are essentially the same sort of people, each side’s violence “excusing” the next outrage from the other side as “revenge” and “justice”.
No, because both movements are those of murderous racial supremacists, and do not really need any excuse for violence. The targets being Christian (for Islamists) or brown-skinned (for Nazis) is enough.
Anonymous
You know not everything is a debate right.
Hugz for Ooglyboggles. 🙁
Man, I’m feeling really run-down today. Anybody else get that run-down feeling around spring/fall? I always kinda dread September because I feel exactly the same, like I’m on the verge of succumbing to a cold, but I never break out into a sore throat or nasal congestion.
The back of my mind always thinks it’s allergies, but the symptoms never get bad enough and the outdoors are actually where I feel half-decent. I think it’s a combination of stress and the inconsistent weather. After all, September is when everything gets really busy after summer break and April was classically exam time back in school.
Of course, having to attend a birthday party that lasts into the evening and be “on” the whole time doesn’t help.
@Ooglyboggles
Ugh. Best of luck. Dealing with abusive family is the pits.
*solidarity, and hugs if wanted*
I have enjoyed Zizek’s “Pervert’s Guides to…” but, having read a report on his “debate” with Peterson, I’m not sure he has much worth saying these days, although I also have my issues with the article too:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/apr/20/jordan-peterson-slavoj-zizek-happiness-capitalism-marxism
He basically came off a lot like J-Petes (in terms of level of preparedness and ability to make a point) and wrapped the debate by agreeing with him that academic leftists are teh worst and political correctness has gone too far. Say no to Zizek.
@ Katamount
I’ve been feeling that way this spring, so it’s not just you.
@Great American Satan (awesome name, BTW!)
I watched YouTuber named Vaush (an anarcho-syndicalist) break down what Zizek actually has to say on political correctness and he doesn’t use the term as the internet CHUDs use it. Zizek’s political correctness is the deference that you have to show to a nice boss who says it’d be doing him a solid if you worked a bit later or came in on the weekend. CHUDs will interpret this as Zizek saying “Yeah, he agrees that SJWs are stupid!” when that is not the case.
Vaush also broke down a response video by one such CHUD named John Doyle who actually said that he liked what Hegelian Communist Slavoj Zizek was saying because he took a potshot at political correctness. Vaush then pointed out that you have a CHUD telling the rest of us what they need to get on board with a left-wing agenda.
I’m not sure I entirely agree with Vaush’s assessment on that as we can’t just give up basic empathy to towards vulnerable groups if it means getting CHUDs on board with whatever economic reforms Zizek is advocating. But I found the idea that perhaps it is just their basic thirst for some hierarchy, racial or otherwise, that’s standing between a CHUD and the political left an interesting one.
@Katamount
Pretty much the case, yeah. Doesn’t mean Zizek isn’t a tankie POS.
I’ve read some of the Reddit threads about the Pete/Ziz debatacle, and it reminded me that nobody I know in offline life has any idea who either of them are.
This baffles Lobsterkin when I mention it.
Thank you everyone for the condolences. Currently in room and back from college classes. Mean aunt hasn’t said a thing to me. I can thank the fact other aunts are around for that. She’s the kind of bully that doesn’t do anything if other people would make things difficult for her.
@Ooglyboggles
I’m sorry that this happened to you. I hope she didn’t succeed in biting you. Trust me when I say bites from humans get infected, they don’t clean or heal easily. Might actually be worse then a horse bite if I’m honest.
@Lainy
Fortunately I do not see any bite marks or any obvious signs of infection.
I don’t know much about Zizek’s politics, but a while ago I read a short book by him called On Violence. The last line stated something like “the greatest violence is doing nothing,” and I couldn’t tell if its ambiguity was profound or a cop-out. Does it mean that doing nothing is worse than violence? Or that inaction, in certain cases, is an effective resistance strategy??
Sometimes contrarian epigrams like that are just show-offy.
On the other hand, I remember him making a good point that extreme situations don’t bring out the best in people or reveal their true selves.
On the other other hand, that doesn’t excuse him defending oppressive or violent governments.
@Anonymous – Right, neither *needs* an excuse for bloodshed. And I wasn’t thinking clearly – most white supremacists probably won’t care about the Sri Lanka bombings because the majority of victims were PoC, though I can see some of those types going on about how Christianity needs to be defended (many of the bombings were in churches on Easter).
But I don’t think characterizing ISIL (etc.) terrorists as “racial supremacists” is quite right. Even if they did only target Christians, which they don’t, is that really racially motivated? The religion = ethnic group conflation happened with Jews and Muslims in Europe (etc.), but I don’t see the quite the same thing the other way around. When Christianity is equated with “the West,” the focus is on culture/nationality as well as religion, but still not really “race”. That’s my impression, but maybe someone with more historical background can weigh in.
I’m not arguing that some terrorists are better than others*, just that race isn’t always the defining factor.
*In terms of mass killers, I mean. The so-called “eco-terrorists” who destroyed property in the 1980s and 90s weren’t all that terroristic, and people defending against government violence get the “terrorist” label way too easily. Anyway.
Peterson vs. Zizek. A supporter of the “good old days” vs. a Stalinist. Just great. Because, *obviously* these are the *only* two options: women, apparently, can only choose between the kitchen or the gulag.
Still, each one proves the other one is a jerk, which is something I guess. Nobody is all bad, I suppose.
@Anonymous
Are you trying to fill in the centrism quota?
@Ooglyboggles
I’m glad your safe. I had a pretty scary week already myself. I might be in trouble because of it but I really didn’t know what to do. My creepy co worker trapped me in the employ room where we keep our bags and lunches if someone brings them. he got me all boxed in and I sprayed pepper spray at him from my purse. I was so scared I didn’t even get it in his eyes like I wanted to but it was enough to get him away from me. Went on his shirt and just being that close to it made my eyes and hands irritated. Not gonna lie, seeing his eyes water in pain made me really happy though. Luckily I have a witness to back me up so I don’t think he can weasel his way out of it this time.
@TheKND
Despising fascists and tankies alike is not necessarily a centrist stance; it’s quite common on the left, and indeed is a position that I share.
@Ooglyboggles- What the hell?! That is something one would expect from a rabid animal, not a human being! I think you should get out of there, who knows what could happen if she escalates.
Lainy-That must have been terrifying! Good on you for your quick acting, though! It’s good that you had a witness to his creepy behaviour, too. Definitely report it.
@Dalillama
So do I, tankies piss me off and Zizek is a prick and a half for not calling Stalin out. But in this case, I was more referring to the “someone mentions white supremacist terror… BUT WHAT ABOUT THE MUZLIMZ!” part.
Human bites are nasty.
I got bitten by an adult woman once and it took months to heal. After that, I had a big red ring where she bit me for another year or so, just wouldn’t go away.
People have said it before and you already know this, but since some of your family seems to normalise this behaviour, it deserves repeating: This is not normal. People usually do not grab and bite other people. You are not required to put up with that, you’re not required to act like this is not a big deal. It’s a big deal.
Apologies for kind of barging in on that personal conversation. I’ve dealt with this kind of stuff being normalised to the point that I thought I was the unreasonable one, so I felt it deserves repeating how very not okay it is to bite family members.
This was on the radio this morning, I seem to recall we’ve got a couple of Albertans here:
Social media fuelling rise of ‘new generation of extremism’ in Alberta, report says
The general comment on the radio was that there’s currently more active extremist sentiment in Alberta than at any time since when the Ku Klux Klan was active in the province. But also:
Incels — or involuntary celibates — form another, more individualistic movement that poses a growing threat to Canadian society, said McCoy.
Members of these groups often use online forums to espouse misogynistic views and celebrate mass killings by incels.
“There’s a diversity of movements that can produce this kind of violence now,” McCoy said.
“There’s a number that are building communities and online forums and are promoting the use of terrorism and mass casualty terrorism, using tools that are accessible to everyone, whether that’s a van or a knife.”