# Zizek (along with a handful of other figures in media criticism that are
full of ideas but short on…

* * *

Zizek (along with a handful of other figures in media criticism that are full
of ideas but short on consistency, like McLuhan) are, I find, best viewed from
the same lens as divinatory bibliomancy or generative or surrealist writing-
games. In other words, the juxtapositions they create can help externalize and
elucidate insights that come within us, but we should not attribute those
insights to the ostensible authors, because for every ‘true’ insight we get
from those texts, the direct opposite can be supported equally well by the
same material. Rather than a string of words containing clear meaning, I see
these authors as creating a string of vague associations with strong
resonances — and we as readers can cherry-pick particular ideas and complete
them ourselves, just as Burroughs did with his cut-ups, or a tarot card reader
does with his spread.

By [John Ohno](https://medium.com/@enkiv2) on [August 22,
2016](https://medium.com/p/eea7190c3d19).

[Canonical link](https://medium.com/@enkiv2/zizek-along-with-a-handful-of-
other-figures-in-media-criticism-that-are-full-of-ideas-but-short-on-
eea7190c3d19)

Exported from [Medium](https://medium.com) on September 18, 2020.