critical theory with slavoj zizek: What Rammstein does: by pushing the listeners into direct identification with the sinthomes used by the Nazis, by-passing their articulation into the Nazi ideology, they render palpable a gap where ideology imposes the illusion of seamless organic unity. To make a long story short, Rammstein liberates these sinthomes from their Nazi-articulation: they are offered to be enjoyed in their pre-ideological status of “knots” of libidinal investment. So when, while watching a Rammstein video clip depicting a blonde girl in a cage, dark uniforms evoking Nordic warriors, etc., some Leftist liberals fear that the uneducated public will miss the irony (if there is any) and directly identify with the proto-Fascist sensibility displayed here, one should counter it with the good old motto: the only thing we have to fear here is fear itself. Rammstein undermines totalitarian ideology not by the ironic distance towards the rituals it imitates, but by directly confronting us with its obscene materiality and thereby suspending its efficiency. So don’t be afraid, enjoy Rammstein!