Kester Brewin

How do we overcome the problem of corp-orations and organ-izations becoming sociopathic and abusive? This seems to be at the heart of the matter whether we are discussing the financial crisis (as Zizek does in First As Tragedy Then As Farce – the springboard for these posts) or the structure of our faith in a [...]

In the previous two posts { [ 1 ] [ 2 ] } I’ve been wondering whether a certain symmetry of relationship is needed if empathy is going to flow between two people. The springboard for this was Zizek critiquing the adage ‘an enemy is a friend whose story I have not yet heard’ by [...]

In the previous post we considered the adage that ‘an enemy is simply a friend whose story I have not yet heard.’ In his book First As Tragedy, Then As Farce, Zizek critiques this, using the example of Hitler, questioning whether it would be right to befriend him: “Is one then also ready to affirm [...]

I’m currently enjoying one of Zizek’s new books, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce – an allusion to Marx’s introduction to his Eighteenth Brumaire in which he wrote: “Hegel remarks somewhere that all great events and characters of world history occur, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the [...]

I’ve been thinking about what this new year and new decade might hold for us, and thought I’d stick my neck out and make some predictions. In line with some of the major themes of this blog I’ve gone for something from categories of: technology, faith, environment, politics… and the personal. Some tongue-in-cheek, some serious. [...]