Torture is Unacceptable; Knight of the Living Dead by Slavoj Žižek

Excellent Op-Ed piece in the New York Times today by Slavoj Žižek:

Knight of the Living Dead

You know in the schools I had to go to as a child we were taught history as if it was over.  As if the struggles of the past were past; everything was taken care of and we were all living now in a happy world of freedom. 

It was a lie of course.  We have to fight, fight, fight to keep the world as free as possible and to expand liberties for all, lest we wake one day to find we're only free enough to play the latest video game and our vote is only for rating amateur singers on television.

Note:  Slavoj Žižek is currently my Number 1 film theorist - I saw his Pervert's Guide to Cinema on Channel 4 and enjoyed it immensely.  You can listen to him on my favourite podcast Open Source here: 

Slavoj Žižek on Open Source, (24mb MP3)

And click below for a few more thoughts on the television show 24 as referenced in the above Op Ed, from a Guardian article last year:

The message of the TV series, that torturers can retain their human dignity if the cause is right, is a profound lie.

Click on the following link for photos of his wives, (I have a soft spot for him here as he seems to get married as often as I used to do):

Slavoj Žižek’s Wives

Additional Note:  Photo of Slavoj Žižek and Eric Rasmussenof adapted from an original by Irina Rasmussen Goloubeva; courtesy of Eric Rasmussen; Click below for Eric's interview of Slavoj at the Electronic Book Review:

Liberation Hurts: An Interview with Slavoj Žižek