Slavoj Žižek :- Toilet Theory

"In a traditional German toilet," writes Zizek, "the hole into which [excrement] disappears after we flush is right at the front, so that [it] is first laid out for us to sniff and inspect for traces of illness. In the typical French toilet, on the contrary, the hole is at the back, i.e. [excrement] is supposed to disappear as quickly as possible. Finally, the American (Anglo-Saxon) toilet presents a synthesis, a mediation between these opposites: the toilet basin is full of water, so that the [excrement] floats in it, visible, but not to be inspected."


As it happens, Zizek's scatological metaphor is a reflection, "in the most intimate domain," as he puts it, of a famous "triad" that has long shaped European politics . Hegel, among many others, noted that the chief German attitude toward life was "reflective thoroughness," while the predominant French attitude is "revolutionary hastiness," and the English is "utilitarian pragmatism." In politics, these play out as "German conservatism, French revolutionary radicalism, and English liberalism."