Subjekt, za katerega se predpostavlja, da voli: teflonski totemizem in nepravi čas demokracije

Abstract

In chapter 6 of Read My Desire, Joan Copjec argues that the constitutive limits of American democracy reveal themselves symptomatically in the electoral choice of a conspicuously incompetent sovereign figure. In a leader for whom governing is exposed as an “impossible profession” (Freud), the Other’s castration appears as a universalsign, which provokes an hysterical form of love even among would-be critics. This essay examines a crucial supplementation to this leader-group dynamic in the “neighborly” structure of voting. When a subject votes, she registers a signifier of her difference as a mark that both estranges her (by turning her difference into a data point) and also situates her in an equivalent alignment with other voters who are either “with” or “against” her position, enabling an imaginary mirror play. From this position of non-interactionand reflective doubling, the subject is invited to participate in a peculiar calculation with respect to what are known as “swing voters,” a demographically constructed set of individuals whose presumptive action is thought to decide the nation’s fate. This hypothetical “subject supposed to vote” is then considered such that the voter, as well as the candidate, adjust their actions based on the anticipated certainty of the fateful mark. In the election cycles that have come to dominate virtually every aspect of civic life, the imputed calculations of this little semblable (granted informational density through interminable polling and fantasized in racist caricature) exert a temporal pressure on democratic subjects that often forces hasty decisions. Through a comparative reading of Copjec’s chapter with Lacan’s essay “Logical Time,” this essay concludes by interpreting the intersubjective logic behind this temporal forcing.V šestem poglavju knjige Read My Desire Joan Copjec trdi, da se konstitutivne omejitve ameriške demokracije simptomatsko kažejo v volilni izbiri očitno nekompetentne suverene figure. Pri voditelju, za katerega se vladanje izkaže za »nemogoč poklic« (Freud), se kastracija Drugega kaže kot univerzalni znak, ki sproži histerično obliko ljubezni celo med potencialnimi kritiki. Prispevek preučuje ključno dopolnitev te dinamike med voditeljem in skupino v »bližnjikovski« strukturi glasovanja. Ko subjekt voli, zapiše označevalec svoje drugačnosti z oznako, ki ga odtuji od drugih volivcev (s tem ko njeno drugačnost spremeni v podatkovno točko) in ga hkrati postavi v revitalizirajoč imaginarni konflikt z njimi. V tej neinterakciji pride do posebnega izračuna glede t. i. »neodločenih volivcev«, tj. demografsko konstruirane skupine posameznikov, katerih domnevno delovanje naj bi odločalo o usodi naroda. Tako volivec kot kandidat tega hipotetičnega »subjekta, za katerega se predpostavlja, da voli«, nato obravnavata tako, da volivec svoje ravnanje prilagaja vnaprejšnji gotovosti o usodnem znaku. V volilnih ciklih, kiso obvladovali praktično vse vidike državljanskega življenja, tovrstno preračunavanje tega malega podobnika (materializiranega v neskončnih javnomnenjskih raziskavah infantaziranega v rasističnih karikaturah) izvaja časovni pritisk na demokratične subjekte, ki jih pogosto prisili k prenaglim odločitvam. S primerjalnim branjem Copjecinega poglavja in Lacanovega eseja »Logični čas« ta esej zaključi z interpretacijo intersubjektivne logike, ki stoji za to časovno prisilo