Žižek claims that ideological prejudices are invested in our unconscious in such a way that just saying "we need to learn about this culture as it really is" is not enough and, in fact, accomplishes nothing.
Taking anti-Semitism, he writes that: "The proper answer to anti-Semitism is therefore not 'Jews are really not like that' but 'the anti-Semitic idea of Jew has nothing to do with Jews; the ideological figure of a Jew is a way to stitch the inconsistency of our own ideological system.'"
That is, he claims that any way of trying to "understand" another culture that is a victim of ideological prejudice cannot overcome the ideological foundations of our own society, as they're grounded in our unconscious. Rather, we have to realize that the conception we have of said culture has absolutely nothing to do with that culture. Rather, it's a kind of "pathological, paranoid construction." Even if the stereotypes were correct, and Jews actually were greedy, thieving bastards, this doesn't change the fact that our prejudice against them is a construct of our own thought, our own ideological misgivings.
Now, the question is: do you agree with this?
