Zizek takes us on an enlightening path concerning the "New Spirit" of modern capitalism in the section "The 'New Spirit' of Capitalism. He begins by pointing out that it is truly a fear of the Other (meaning any neighbor) that causes us to have empathy with others, insofar as they are reduced to simply "fellow men" engaged in whatever emancipatory liberal struggle is being fought for. To illustrate this in a rather gross manner, he applied this concept in another one of his books,
Violence. Believe it or not (although it shouldn't be hard to believe considering the state in which it happened), a California sex-products-based company has began sponsoring what they call the Masturbate-a-Thon. The name isn't deceiving: it's nothing more than a big public masturbation fest. (Yes, this has actually happened) As disturbing as this is, it has proved to be an interesting study for psychologists. The hosts of the M-a-T sell you the idea that you are being "open" and "secure" in your sexuality, by being your "own best lover." But this free-love hippie bullcrap is far from the psyche of the freaks who participate. Truly, these people are fearful of everyone else out in the world, and it comforts them to engage in crowd activities like this because only in times such as these are they truly alone. Zizek poses the question: is it more embarrassing to masturbate in front of your spouse, or to have sex with them? Obviously masturbation. And so the most intimate experiences are the ones we share with only one more person. But the people who participate in the M-a-T are fully comforted in their activities because every person in the crowd shares the same solipsistic perception that no one else
really exists. This is the way modern capitalism is: we box ourselves off in our little communities and donate generously to charities out of our surpluses, but we really just pretend the people on the receiving end don't exist at all.
Charity is another problem with modern eco- or green-capitalism. As I mentioned last time, Starbucks tries to sell you the idea that "it's not what you're buying, it's what you're buying into." They claim to buy only free-trade coffee beans, pay the fairest prices, support the greatest humanitarian efforts, etc., and yet they make money off of it all (why is their coffee more expensive than everyone else's?). The problem with this idea of charitable giving is that it simply "keeps the poor alive," per se. If you really want to end poverty, you must completely reform the economic system so that it is IMPOSSIBLE to be poor anymore. Otherwise, you are like Bill Gates, Soros, and Starbucks: you give with one hand what you take with the other.
Perhaps the indigenous people working to produce these coffee beans in Africa, say, would much rather grow the plants for themselves, rather than being paid and sold manufactured crops in return.
