[Buddha-l] Zizek: expert on Buddhism and what "we" think

[Franz Metcalf]

Gang,

I can't resist some more direct words on Zizek's op-ed piece. I just 
read it again on an interfaith list I'm a member of and I find Zizek's 
tone to be disturbingly apologetic for the Chinese regime. Let's not 
forget that Zizek has described himself as an "orthodox Lacanian 
Stalinist." (Imagine!)

I simply cannot let him get away with his blatant falsehoods about the 
situations in China and Tibet without a quick rejoinder. Look at 
paragraph two in which his hinted argument--never explicitly stated 
because, I think, too weak and craven--is an ad hominem attack on the 
West and, even then, an attack that implies our actions in 1555 and 
1648 exclude us from critiquing another culture in 2007. Sorry, Slavoj, 
but that dog don't hunt.

And look at paragraph three. Are we really supposed to dismiss our 
fears about the antireligious character of the Chinese government 
simply because we're reassured by something "China’s top religious 
official, told Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency"? Are you 
joking with us, Mr. Zizek?

And then there's paragraph four, which states, "when we are talking 
about the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, we are taking about choosing 
a head of state." No, no no! His Holiness the XIVth Dalai Lama is 
explicitly and repeatedly on the record that, given a return to Tibet, 
he would abdicated all political power and institute democratic 
elections for Tibet. Something, I hardly need to add, the People's 
Republic of China is not about to consider on its own turf.

And how about paragraph eight where Zizek writes about the Taliban 
blowing up the Bamiyan Buddhas, "we were angered because the Taliban 
did not show appropriate respect for the “cultural heritage” of their 
country. Unlike us sophisticates, they really believed in their own 
religion, and thus had no great respect for the cultural value of the 
monuments of other religions." No, you pompous idiot. We were not 
angered because the Taliban failed to show "appropriate respect" for 
Buddhist statues; we were angered because the Taliban BLEW THEM UP. Do 
you have some problem differentiating these actions?

Look, I respect and appreciate an intelligent and powerful critique of 
the Western commodification of religion and the foolish way in which 
some of us treat culture as if it were a preference in breakfast 
cereal. Zizek is right about this and we can learn from his radical 
critique. But that does not excuse the PRC or the Taliban's actions. 
The simple fact is that, contra Zizek, "China's reincarnation laws" ARE 
"alien to our sensibility." And thank God for that.

Franz Metcalf