Posts

Showing posts from November, 2019

Where the Left and the Right Could Meet: Slavoj Žižek and Jordan Peterson

Image
Slavoj Žižek and Jordan Peterson, the two most prominent public intellectuals of our time, met on the stage of the Sony Centre of the Performing Arts in Toronto on April 19, 2019, to debate Marxism, capitalism and happiness in front of a sold out crowd. The resulting convergence of their positions was surprising. Slavoj Žižek and Jordan Peterson are polarizing figures by all accounts. Peterson is explicitly hated by the left, not in the least due to his suggestion that women are not qualitatively equal participants in conversation. Peterson has said that women would be happier in their traditional roles and has defended enforced monogamy to “ decrease male violence .” He has claimed that because men are unable to “control crazy women,” they cannot engage with them respectfully. Many remember his initial rise to fame based on his refusal to use gender neutral pronouns. Žižek, on the other hand, is branded as a “cultural Marxist” by the right. His defences of Marx and interp