Slovenski marksistični filozof Slavoj Žižek je bil s strani ameriške supremacistične revije The American Renaissance obtožen plagiatorstva, poroča Newsweek. Prepisal naj bi del recenzije knjige ameriškega profesorja Kevina MacDonalda, v kateri se je ta posvetil evolucijski analizi vpletenosti Judov v politična in intelektualna gibanja v 20. stoletju (The Culture of Critique: An Evolutionary Analysis of Jewish Involvement in Twentieth-Century Intellectual and Political Movements).

Žižek je recenzijo napisal leta 2006, dele te pa naj bi prepisal od Stanleya Hornbecka, ki je recenzijo napisal leta 1999. Žižkovo opravičilo objavljamo spodaj.

Napisal naj bi "preveč razumljivo"

Prvi je 9. julija na Žižka opozoril spletni bloger Steve Sailer (iSteve), ki je med drugim zapisal, da je slavni filozof in profesor recenzijo omenjene knjige napisal bolj razumljivo, kot karkoli do zdaj.

Še istega dne je bloger Deogolwulf, objavil primerjavo Žižkove in Hornbeckove recenzije in opozoril na enakosti zapisanega. Objavljamo primerjavo:

Žižek:

The main academic proponent of this new barbarism is Kevin MacDonald, who, in The Culture of Critique, argues that certain twentieth-century intellectual movements led by Jews have changed European societies in fundamental ways and destroyed the confidence of Western man; these movements were designed, consciously or unconsciously, to advance Jewish interests even though they were presented to non-Jews as universalistic and even utopian.

Hornbeck:

In The Culture of Critique, Kevin MacDonald advances a carefully researched but extremely controversial thesis: that certain 20th century intellectual movements - largely established and led by Jews - have changed European societies in fundamental ways and destroyed the confidence of Western man. He claims that these movements were designed, consciously or unconsciously, to advance Jewish interests even though they were presented to non-Jews as universalistic and even utopian.

Žižek:

MacDonald devotes many pages to The Authoritarian Personality , a collective project coordinated by Adorno, the purpose of which was, for MacDonald, to make every group affiliation sound as if it were a sign of mental disorder; everything, from patriotism to religion to family--and race--loyalty, is disqualified as a sign of a dangerous and defective "authoritarian personality". Because drawing distinctions between different groups is illegitimate, all group loyalties--even close family ties--are "prejudice".

Hornbeck:

Prof. MacDonald devotes many pages to an analysis of The Authoritarian Personality, which was written by Adorno and appeared in 1950.... The book's purpose is to make every group affiliation sound as if it were a sign of mental disorder. Everything from patriotism to religion to family--and race--loyalty are signs of a dangerous and defective "authoritarian personality". Because drawing distinctions between different groups is illegitimate, all group loyalties--even close family ties!--are "prejudice".

Urednik: Žižkovo delo je zagotovo plagiat

V Newsweeku so s problematiko soočili tudi Jamesa Wiliamsa, urednika revije Critical Inquiry, ki je leta 2006 objavila Žižkovo recenzijo, ki se je strinjal, da je Žižek prepisoval. »Žal nam je, da se je to zgodilo. Če bi vedeli, da je Žižek prepisoval, bi ga zagotovo prosili, da odstrani prepisane odstavke,« je dejal Williams. Critical Inquiry je sicer revija, ki jo izdaja Univerza v Chicagu.

Zadevo je komentiral tudi prvi pisec revizije Stanley Hornbeck. »Kdorkoli je videl primerjavo recenzij, ne more dvomiti, da je Žižek plagiator,« je povedal. »Ne poznam njegovih pisalnih navad, morda to počne ves čas. Morda pa kot prominentni marksist samo ni želel povedati, da bere The American Renaissance,« je dodal.

Žižek obžaluje incident

Žižka in Filozofsko fakulteto, kjer je zaposlen, smo zaprosili za komentar, odziv še čakamo. Žižkovo opravičilo je sicer objavila spletna stran Critical Theory. Kot je zapisal, se za incident opravičuje in ga obžaluje. Žižek pojasnjuje, da mu je besedilo, ki ga bremeni plagiatorstva, poslal prijatelj. Ta mu je dejal, da lahko besedilo prosto uporabi, kar je tudi storil. Opravičilo v angleškem jeziku objavljamo v celoti:

"With regard to the recent accusations about my plagiarism, here is what happened. When I was writing the text on Derrida which contains the problematic passages, a friend told me about Kevin Macdonald's theories, and I asked him to send me a brief resume. The friend send [sic] it to me, assuring me that I can use it freely since it merely resumes another's line of thought. Consequently, I did just that - and I sincerely apologize for not knowing that my friend's resume was largely borrowed from Stanley Hornbeck's review of Macdonald's book. (These passages are also taken over in Part III, Chapter 1, of my book The Parallax View.) As any reader can quickly establish, the problematic passages are purely informative, a report on another's theory for which I have no affinity whatsoever; all I do after this brief resume is quickly dismissing Macdonald's theory as a new chapter in the long process of the destruction of Reason. In no way can I thus be accused of plagiarizing another's line of thought, of »stealing ideas.« I nonetheless deeply regret the incident.