This is part of the coursera course: The Modern and the Postmodern by Michael S. Roth from Wesleyan University.
Recommended Reading
Judith Butler, “Introduction” from Undoing Gender (2004) Full-text not available, see Google Books for sources
Slavoj Žižek, “You May!” London Review of Books, vol. 21 (March 1999) http://www.lrb.co.uk/v21/n06/slavoj-zizek/you-may
Jasson Cordones
Source
i wonder why you never dived into more conservative or libertarian postmodern thinkers. i think its frustrating that you can teach an entire class that is essentially "whig history" for the left. how about we talk about some mises, hayek, rothbard, etc… they are part of the enlightenment too…however, they dont get any air time here because the professor does not share their opinions. sounds pretty biased to me.
The Zizek clip that was to start at 7:43 never played.
I'm interested in this idea of totalitarian democracy. As an American, I've long struggled with the the tyranny of happiness imposed by my culture. Most troubling to me has been the notion that the key to a fulfilling life is to "follow your passion". I've watched countless videos on the subject, and whenever I comment "what if you don't have a passiion?", I'm invariably met with replies of "you just haven't found it yet" or "I'm sad to hear that you don't have a passion". The latter comment is particularly obnoxious as it seems to suggest that if you are among the dispassionate, you must have some kind of defect of character. I wish I could say I was immune to this sort of thing, but in truth, it led me to all kinds of crazy attempts at "fixing" myself. I tried psychotherapy, yoga, Buddhist philosophy and meditation! The Buddhists were particularly alluring with their message that mankind's natural state is one of happiness. No wonder Americans are flocking to Buddhist centers!
A great book on this topic is Pascal Bruckner's "Perpetual Euphoria: On The Duty To Be Happy".