RSA Animate - First as Tragedy, Then as Farce

Comment 34 Comments

  • Social enterprise
  • Behaviour change

 

In this short RSA Animate, renowned philosopher Slavoj Zizek investigates the surprising ethical implications of charitable giving. View the original lecture on RSA Vision. Download a transcript of this video(pdf)

Join the discussion

34 Comments

Please login to post a comment or reply

Don't have an account? Click here to register.

  • I agree with KS, there are billions of people that are already concious about the need of a social change but dont have (or know) the actions to genarate that change. I wish i could do something especificly.

  • Zizek is bypassing human existence for logic soundness. While it's true that momentary charity fixes only a symptom of suffering, he is confusing human happiness for a society's wealth and stability. The ability of consumers to hold the vendors they engage with accountable is analogous to familial bonds and encourages trust. The more we are aware of each other globally, the more we may live peacefully.

  • P.S. The evil capitalist world we live in doesn't cure diseases, it treats them. There's much more money to be made that way.

  • I don't think you quite understand that it was industrial western civilization that introduced disease and suffering to all of the nations, tribes, and people they colonized. The "large populations in Africa" wouldn't be so large if westerners hadn't come to the shores of Africa to profit off their people and make them PAY EUROPEANS to live on the land they were born on. Communities of poverty around the world are generally not to blame for the problems they must endure. I would even be so bold as to say that more people are starving in the world post industrial revolution by a great factor. You just can't see them because your eyes are closed.

  • I've seen him solve problems.