Nathaniel Smith and Carolina Nunez
We were having some difficulties understanding what this reading had to do with 9/11. Zizek didn’t really delve into the 9/11 topic until the third section of the book which is not covered in this reading, but after doing some research and external reading I came across an explanation of this piece by Natasa Kovacevic, an English student at the university of Florida. If anyone is interested in understanding it better you can read this article athttp://www.politicsandculture.org/2009/10/02/the-obscene-underside-of-liberal-democracy-slavoj-zizek-natasa-kovacevic/
Happiness per Merriam-Webster:
: A state of well-being and contentment: a pleasurable or satisfying experience
Happiness After September 11, when reading this title our minds automatically start traveling across a path full of nothing but pain, sadness, hopelessness and of course vengeance!!! Nevertheless, as we read this article we found ourselves being informed; within many other things, about happiness, Fascism and The Land Before Time. Thus I recommend that when reading this article it is better for one to forget about its title and get ready for a reading full of randomness used to explain several topics throughout the article.
In Happiness After September 11, Žižek creates a logical relationship between Happiness and Knowledge. To his opinion Knowledge is the seed of lack of Happiness; he explains that “knowledge ultimately makes us unhappy”. In a society where we are born and raised under the motto “Knowledge is Power” (at least in my case), this statement by Žižek creates controversy. How can knowledge lead to unhappiness when this one is consider to be power and power have (throughout history) lead to the happiness of the men and women who possess it? The statement is somewhat contradictory. Yet we do know that in many cases the curiosity of knowing have created major scars (emotionally/psychologically) in the lives of many of us.
Think of knowledge and happiness and I’ll invite you to read about Sophocles, Oedipus the King. How is it possible that a story wrapped around knowledge falls into the genre of Tragedies? In Oedipus The King we find the main character; Oedipus, being submerged in unhappiness, shame and suffering after learning that he was the murderer of his father, husband and son to his mother and father and brother to his children. Before knowing the truth of his origin, Oedipus happily ruled the city of Thebes
“Curiosity killed the cat”. Perhaps if the cat didn’t want to know it would have still be happy and alive Or perhaps the cat would have just been sadly alive being that its anxiety of knowing was never eradicated by trying to learn. Can happiness after 9/11 be accomplished by just ignoring the past events? To my opinion being more informed about this tragedy is the only way in which the people in this society will be happy or content. Resisting the knowledge of the background information carried by the attacks of September 11 only allows for this society to draw irrational conclusions and commit inhumane actions like the torture cases that have emerged after the attacks.
Zizek wrote that knowledge ultimately makes us unhappy and that every true progress in knowledge comes with a painful struggle. He says, as humans we have an attitude to say we don’t want to know about it but I do not agree with him here because I do think there are really true happiness out there. I do admit there are a lot of wrongs in the world and truths that we do avoid because it is hard to understand and painful to hear but not all truths are eventually negative. Knowledge could also be seen as the ultimate road to happiness, a person without knowledge can never be successful in life and the more knowledge you have the better you will be if you are using the knowledge gained for good. Zizek talks about Huntington chorea gene; he talks about 9/11, and made references to many negatives that will knowledge brings. He uses sad and bad things to argue his case about happiness but he is completely one sided on the topic.In the movie references that were made about spouse knowing their mates are cheating but chose to stay quiet in order to make them happy. Zizek argues that this knowledge made them unhappy but one could argue that if they were unhappy they would leave and they chose to stay because of their ultimate happiness. I know some people would say they may have stayed for money or status in life but what if that’s what makes them happy then that is the real reason one would be staying. Whatever views you have on this argument, it can be argued that truth does lead to happiness.
Here you can see Zizek explain happiness and what he think is wrong with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqhWiohr_gQ
Here are some questions that Carolina and I discussed and may not agree on. We would like for you to way in and give us your opinions.
Can truth lead to unhappiness? Would you want to know the truth if it’s going to make you unhappy?
Zizek states “resistance is the norm today”, do you agree? Can you resist happiness? And if yes, does resisting happiness make you happy or content?
Can we agree with Zizek? Or can we say that happiness cannot be destroyed by knowledge?
Would you want to know when you are going to die? And why?If you don’t want to know when you are going to die, as in the case of the genetic disease. Would you take the test to know if you have it? Would you want others to know and keep in from you?
Would you take your child's life at the start of horrible pain to save him/her from the pain?
Is it honest ignorance or reputation that the German mayor killed himself?
Is suicide bravery or cowardess?
Would you take 1 life to save 1000 lives?
Happiness is something that is simple yet complex at the same time. Happiness is something we experience everyday. Zizek is right about that fact that you need gaps and short periods of shortgages. We don't want those lows but they are essential in life. They are apart of life. Every time I go to my favorite restaurants I get very excited and happy. Now if i were go to my favorite restaurants every single day, would I continue to get happiness from it?
ReplyDeleteHave any of you guys lost something really important and went crazy looking for it? I bet you were really excited and happy when you found it. But are you that happy on a daily basis when you have it? That low of losing something gave happiness when you found it. It made you appreciate that object more.
In order for us to be happy we need to keep reaching for more. Many people are happy at their jobs because they know there is room for promotion. When someone has a goal to be a millionaire, once they have reached that goal it doesnt stop there. Why do you think the rich keep getting richer. "The Hunt is better than the kill."
In order to be happy we need a certain amount of certainty and uncertainty. If someone were knew everything there life would be boring. Mystery and uncertainty gives us happiness.
There is some talk about democracy and there is some truth to this. Democracy isn't perfect. This quote by Winston Churchill puts it in good words. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried." Democracy is the best form of Government when compared to the other systems.
Nate & Carolina,
ReplyDeleteGood work. And, I'm very happy that you mentioned Oedipus as it is a great place to start, I think. (Quick note: Zizek and Badiou [whom Zizek mentions and quotes several times] headed an open discussion on Antigone just this past Saturday in Manhattan)
If you are not familiar with Oedipus, well, I recommend it. Allegorically, it has indispensably lent itself to thinkers and artists, from Voltaire to Freud to Jim Morrison.
A quick, not very well-written summary (which I normally do not recommend but will provide for the sake of brevity) can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oedipus
So to skip ahead: Oedipus is king -- a position that he won after unwittingly killing his father and defeating the sphinx -- is married to his mother (again, unwittingly); thus the prophesy of the Oracle at Delphi is fulfilled, and Oedipus is, again, unwitting. He is happy. The conditions under which he is living are ones that uncover his "actual desire" or bear it into presence, his "actual desire" being to discover know the truth of the Delphic prophesy.
A plague provides the conditions under which the fragile, dramatic balance of Oedipus' happiness is made bare and readies Oedipus to confront his "actual desire," which is knowing the truth foretold by the Delphic Oracle. Eventually the plague leads to Oedipus' realization of his taking part in his father's murder and his marriage/copulation with his mother, which, compounded by his mother's suicide, eventually causes him to poke out his eyes and leave Thebes in self-exile.
Is this not also allegorical in context with Zizek's initial explanation of happiness in Czechoslovakia and the Huntington's chorea example that he uses?
Still, something escapes me that one of you may want to take a stab at: What is this "official desire" that Zizek speaks of? Is it relative per each person? The initial guidelines that Zizek outlines would say otherwise, but a solid definition of "official desire" still escapes me.
I think happiness can be accomplished not by ignoring the past events, but by accepting reality. Whatever had happen is already the past and we can’t do anything to change it. The best way is to face it and live on with your life. Ignoring the past event is not a wise because it will always remain in your memory. It cannot be erased and ignoring it wont help. Ignorance is not the key to happiness.
ReplyDeleteWhen Zizek stated, “knowledge ultimately makes us unhappy and that every true progress in knowledge comes with a painful struggle”, it suddenly reminded me of Fahrenheit 451. The people believed without knowledge, then people wouldn’t be worried or stressed over any situation. But without knowledge, we’re just wandering souls without a mind.
Truth can lead to unhappiness but it can also lead to happiness. Truth are not always negative facts. Curiosity makes us want to seek the truth but not everyone can handle it. Some people regret knowing the truth because it brings them unhappiness. Is it better off knowing the truth now than later on? The outcome would be the same because eventually if the truth brings us unhappiness, we’ll have to get over it.
Yes. I am very curious about when I am going to die. I would be happier to know when i'll die because i can know ahead of time. I'll have the opportunity to do the things I want before my death. I would know if i'll die before the people I love or not.
I think suicide is both bravery and a coward act. It takes a lot of courage to commit suicide because many people are afraid of dying. Not everyone can stand up to death. They are also coward because they are not brave enough to face the obstacles. Many people think suicide is a easy way out to solve problems. It is wrong because you’re just leaving your problems unsolved and the people who loves you behind.
Before I attempt to take a stab at the number of questions you two posted...
ReplyDeleteThere is a section on 79 that describes the political choices facing voters of the Louisiana Governor's elections around a decade ago and the 2002 Presidential elections in France. The section describes the candidates (neither of which are that great eg; in the Louisiana example it's between an ex-KKK member and a corrupt Democrat) and the following public's response ("Vote for a crook - it's important!"). Not to sound too cynical (who am I kidding?) but this is how I feel our society is given decisions; in always having to choose the better of two evils. We don't want to vote for the corrupt Democrat (because we don't support corruption, regardless of whether we like Democrats or not) but ethically we'd feel WRONG voting for someone who was ever part of the KKK (just like we don't show Neo-Nazis mercy). I thought it was interesting that Zizek brings up the idea of what is ethically wrong and right in a situation and this is what leads to his definition of happiness.
Now, to take a stab at it (no pun intended): I was talking about death with a friend earlier this week, can't remember why or how it was brought up, but in any case...
I found myself thinking out loud, and my thoughts were similar when reading Zizek's Happiness after September 11th: If I could know when I would die, would I want to know? YES! Am I scared of death (conversely, isn't it sad that Bruce Willis' character can't die and is tormented by this?)? NO! I remember as a kid I was very scared of the idea of dying, and the idea that things would be over, but as I got older, and a close friend of mine tried to commit suicide, I realized the reason why death scares most of us (at least I think so). We are scared of what other people will do once we are gone. Ie: How will my parents go on? What about my wife? My husband? My children? My best friend or my completely unassuming roommate who will find me dead in the morning? The fact that us dying cannot just be one solid swipe, that it has to, and will affect other people, forces us to think twice, respect death a little more and eventually fear it.
All of a sudden this is getting really personal and because it's the blog, I'd rather it come out in class, but I think Zizek is seriously onto something, even if I can't exactly explain it.
One part of the article got to me and I couldn't stop thinking about it. Zizek brings up "The Land Before Time" how we all have struggles. It may seem that on the outside everyone else's life is going great but ours, but in truth when we look deeper and examine we find that everyone has struggles. My favorite part was the song lyrics. Little kids believe that adults have it all. They are making the rules but they aren't fair because adults don't have the same rules. Yet when the children become adults or look closer at the lives of the adults they realize that under the touch exterior is an interior suffering in pain. "Things are better when you're big." How many times do we wish that we could be carefree and lovers of life like children? I feel as though there is a constant looking back in time and wishing for what you don't have anymore.
ReplyDeleteAnswering one of your questions: I do NOT think the truth brings happiness, I believe that ignorance is bliss. It might not be the right way to live but if you actively don't make yourself aware of the problems than the problems simply do not exist.
Another answer: If I knew when I was to die life would be filled with worry and anticipation. I'd rather not know when exactly, but know that it is approaching (because it always is) and we have to live our lives to the fullest everyday regardless.
I had never given happiness much thought, I just feel it. After reading “Happiness After September 11”, it goes beyond happiness. This reading makes the unusual connections that there could be towards happiness. The author goes beyond and starts to involve knowledge and happiness, which I never made a connection but makes sense. What is ironic is the point he makes, about happiness in different cultures, means doing different things. For example killing someone could be a horrible thing to do for some of us but for other people or cultures this could be their way of being happy.
ReplyDeleteWould you take 1 life to save 1000 lives?
I think I would take one life to save a thousand, is it going to be worth it? No. why do it? I think I would just do it because it would be less pain for other people, those 1000 lives could have many family members that would be devastated. It’s better to have less people sad than more. I was just thinking it’s not worth it to save the other 1000 because Jesus sacrificed for many, and we have still sinned and done the bad things that we are not suppose to do.
I agree and also disagree with Zizek when he says that knowing the truth leads to unhappiness. I agree with Zizek because not knowing something such as the exact date you are going to die would not have such of an emotional impact on you as oppose to knowing the date that you are going to die. Knowing the exact day that you are going to die will make you sad and unhappy. I disagree with Zizek because there are moments in life in which it may be best to know the truth because it can help you grow as an individual. For example, if a student fails a test, it is best for that student to know his or her grade so that the student can improve on his or her weakness.
ReplyDeleteMy response to whether I consider someone who commits suicide to brave or a coward, I would have to say that it depends on the reason why that person commits suicide. For example, if a person commits suicide in order to save his or her child from a car accident, then that person is considered brave. If a person commits suicide because of his or her depression issues, then that person may be considered a coward. I believe that it is selfish and inconsiderate for a person to commit suicide if he or she is depressed because it doesn’t only affect that individual; it also affects that person’s family members and love ones.
Happiness can come from the simplest things, like finding a shirt you wanted in your favorite color. But they can also come from the worst of things, like a death in family. When a family member dies, all the other family members get together to grieve for their lost one. That brings happiness because you have everyone you love around you. I feel that the only we can experience happiness after September 11th is accepting what happen. It was a horrible day and brought a lot of pain but that’s the only way we can get past it. So when Zizek connected knowledge with happiness I felt that it showed a lot what I was explaining before. You have to understand something to accept it, and when you finally do, you are able to move on and become happy.
ReplyDeleteThis reading was very difficult for me to analyze and discuss. I will go back and read what you have posted that hopefully will help me further understand the point. My mind raced in very different directions while reading. The idea of happiness is just that, an idea. I battle with what is happiness every day, weather the feelings I feel are true or just circumstantial. Juxtopositions of what is really real. The underlying motives for governments aiding to tainted versions of social norms. The effect of social norms on what is considered happiness and utility alike. I wish I had more to add to this discussion but being truly honest, I did not have the time to go deeper into developing my thoughts by researching outside sources.
ReplyDeleteThis reading sent my mind all over the place. The idea that happiness is a hypocrisy where "it is the happiness of dreaming about things we do not really want." We take radical stances and ask for things we do not truly want. Also, even though I do not believe that ignorance can bring happiness, I think that being oversaturated with information is harmful. Two weeks ago on the show "Grey's Anatomy", Meredith took a blood test to determine whether she had the gene for Alzheimer's. When she told Derek he put her mind to rest by telling her to not get caught up in the negative possibilities of what if and instead find contentment in the moment she had now.
ReplyDeleteThe piece about The Land Before Time struck a cord in me because in our youth we know exactly what we need to be happy, and as we grow older the message is lost and we lose the simplicity of being happy. We complicate it with formulas, lists and self- help books. The message is simple. We seem different, but at our cores we are exactly the same- scared, unsure of what to expect and in need of others to help us through our days.
I'm posting this on Kedne's behalf:
ReplyDeleteFrom Past discussion we spoke about how media and even the government failed to tell us the truth. The reason for this is because what will result in truth. I agree with Zizek concerning the known and un known .When thinking about 9/11 I could remember not fully knowing the truth on why these men would do such a thing and kill so many people. My automatic emotion is to hate but knowledge is key we shouldn’t act on emotion but educate ourselves on the subject for better understanding. I do feel truth leads to unhappiness but is ultimately good for humans to grow. I think everybody is different I don’t agree resistance is the norm. There some people that resist the truth and happiness because they feel living that way would make them better off.
This may sound silly but I’m a believer that what is to be will be .God makes the plan for my life and I don’t think he allow anybody to know when there dying so why will I want to change that. I don’t think knowing when I’m going to die would benefit me in any kind of way if anything it would make me depress because I will live my life counting the day down till death. The idea about life and taking a child’s life if I could save my child from pain and heart ache such as a disease or worst while it’s still developing such as a abortion than yes I would. But ones my child is living then I wouldn’t I will leave that for god to decide.
I think the idea of happiness is to each its own we can’t measure anyone’s happiness or life for them.
Quite the complicated read, no?
ReplyDeleteZizek titles his work, "Happiness After September 11," but he doesn't address it as his main point of interest (not explicitly, at least; his underlying argument does indeed discuss happiness in lieu of events like September 11). His argument, as distilled as I could understand it, was that happiness is the "betrayal of desire," and that there are many aspects of our society that lead to the unfulfillment of happiness. He discusses different archetypes of human nature, and discusses intrinsic qualities of life that either lead towards or away from happiness.
To start, he believes in a philosophy similar to Aristotle, who believes that life should be lived in order to fulfill happiness, in the form of acheiving pleasure. This is also the pagan belief, and the additional condition of happiness is the "insistance of a Beyond of the pleasure principle."
To address first professor Dodson's question, Zizek mentions that "ultimately the worst thing that can happen is for us to get what we 'officially' desire." I have a great feeling that Zizek has a bigger underlying theme here, but quite literally, I feel that the "official" desire he talks about are desires that exceed what is necessary to be happy. I know, that doesn't make too much sense, but let me try to elaborate. He states that desire, the pursuit and the fulfillment of it, makes us unhappy. His example of the (relatively) happy society had "their material needs basically satisfied," and not "too well satisfied," implying that (what he also implies in the section immediately after it) the desire to want things more than what we need, and fulfilling those desires both by trying and obtaining what we desire, break our chances of happiness. This is because, as Zizek puts it, "'happiness' relies on the subject's inability or readiness to fully to confront the consequences of desire: the price of happiness is that the subject remains stuck in the inconsistency of its desire." This means that once the subject begins to desire something that he does not have outside of what he needs, then once he gets the object he seeks, he will only desire more, and thus make an endless cycle in which he is never happy, and thinks he will be happy with the next item of his desire. Zizek, I feel at least, agrees with this conclusion when he states "happiness is...dreaming about things that we do not really want."
Which brings me to my next point. Zizek, in his abhorrence of desire and its effects on happiness, also seems to denounce left wing democrats, as well as Capitalism as a whole. From what I could tell (and I say that often because this is quiet the complicated read, so I'm not too sure), Zizek rejects the impossibilities posed by left wing democrats, especially on pg 60, and even goes to say, "Conservatives are therefore fully justified in legitimizing their opposition to radical knowledge (of the democrats)." In total, he seems to denounce capitalism (despite because I know his view based on some prior research on him) because it produces desire within the subjects of its boundaries. In constantly trying to do better than the other worker, and earning more in this socially hypocritical rat race of a society, we create a desire within us that can never be quenched, and thus are unhappy. This is why i feel he denounces democracy as our main "political fetish," towards the end of the reading.
I think "Happiness after September 11" is used more as a term to relate us all to the event that we can all reflect to. Everybody feels happiness or sadness in their own sphere. The event one feels happy about may not be for another vice verse.
ReplyDeleteSeptember 11 was such an event that the world felt shock, pain and sadness together. The overwhelming feeling was in the hearts of millions. The author, I believe tried to take this emotion and conjure up to something we can relate to.
Happiness and knowledge are two things that don't go together because you always want to know more so your thirst for knowledge is never satisfied. Even if your brilliant and are happy with what you know but then come across something that you don't understand you then won't stop thinking about it until you undestand it and during that time you won't be completely happy because you're in search of something that's causing youu troble.
ReplyDeleteEven though the chapter doesn't talk about september 11 it could be said that it is harder to achieve happiness after that date. We now don't just have to worry about all our personal troubles but also have to think about the possibility that we may be attacked again and this time someone we know or even us could be affected by it.
In some way I believe that the government keeps us in a way happy. In 2008 when wall street went down everyone still went on with their lifes and always heard that the problem would be fixed with the cooperation of wall street and the federal reserve. There were people who said that it was going to get as bad as the great depression but by getting almost everyone to reamin calm things got better or atleast we think they did. The part that was left out was that there were alot of people who lost their jobs and still don't have one and thus their happiness was taken away.
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ReplyDeleteOk ... I have refrained from posting to this entry mainly because my initial responses to this piece weren't constructive. The truth is, they still aren't.
ReplyDeleteI am not extremely well read in Žižek (I've read a few essays, forwards and introductions, film stuff) however, that is not to say I am unfamiliar with him (I have heard him speak, read about him and his ideas)... I have an understanding of his work and quite frankly I am not now or, have ever been, a fan. That said, I may not be the of the best authority to formally critique his work but I do possess enough awareness to form a merited opinion. I find him to be verbose and once a point is made (derived) I usually feel rather let down. In addition I find his argumentative style (especially in "Happiness After 9/11") cumbersome and leaving me in want of better qualifications to his conclusions. Maybe after a few more readings I will have an über grasp on this piece but I can't say I think it even merits it.
Looking further to our discussions ... I am still not completely convinced of the argument regarding desire and official desire. I don't really know if agree with the idea of an official desire ... a desire that seems to be above happiness and these, lets say, mini desires. Isn't the desire to be happy a desire for a new state of being? Aren't people perpetually looking for an altered state ... a utopia? Isn't that the idea of the greener grass scenario? The point there being that you are looking beyond to something else, for happiness—a new state of being. You are doing so because you desire happiness which is in itself a state of being. Per our discussion in class I was under the impression that Žižek is saying there is something more—something beyond this. If we have in fact come to the correct conclusion then I completely missed any qualifying statement(s) to such a claim. Unfortunately we really didn't have enough time to properly dredge (or dare I say deconsrtuct) this piece into a proper discussion.
Furthermore, again it must be asked, what does this piece have to do with September 11th? In the context of this discussion the events of that day are no different than those of Pearl Harbor or the Oklahoma City bombing ... anthrax scares ... unibomber letter-bombs ... Maryland snipers. These are all examples of an Other forcibly modifying a perceived and existing state of being—altered states of being where the Other is the only knowledgeable party.
In closing I have to thank you Professor Dodson for giving us this piece. It was a painful read because I don't like Žižek; I do like analysis, I did derive pleasure from it. However in my desire of wanting something more from the discussions and text I am left rather unhappy.
Happiness is always changing. What does it means to be truly happy? Many of us spend our whole lives searching for happiness. Happiness depends on the individual. The whole idea of someone being happy depends on someone perception of life. Many of our actions are on the quest to pursue happiness but then when happiness is obtained, the meaning of it changes. Achieving happiness is one remaining happy is the next.
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