Zizek says this applies to everyone, even in cases where we don't realize it. I'll look up the citation later (don't have the course reader on me atm), but this is the response I wrote last week: "For Zizek, ideology is entirely external: it has nothing to do with "false consciousness," or any internalized belief system, but instead exists as a kind of total inscription that envelops everything: "[ideology] is rather this reality itself which is already to be conceived as 'ideological'" (21). But then we must ask ourselves, where does ideology originate if it is always-already external? In other words, if it isn't mirrored internally, how is it ever reproduced, how does it persist? Zizek offers the compelling example of the Tibetan prayer wheel to illustrate his point: the devotee has only to spin the wheel to pray; faith doesn't require any kind of "real" belief. In the same vein, it makes no difference whether we believe in capitalist ideology. As long as we participate in capitalist reality, we are capitalists. In fact, postmodern capitalism depends on this internalized cynicism – where we realize we are taking part in an illusion, but continue to do it nonetheless - combined with a kind of self-disavowal. Zizek seems to assume that this cynicism is implied, and not explicit, and that we are always playing some kind of role. But if you look at advertising, or reality media, this kind of cynicism is very explicit. In fact I would go so far as to say it is shoved down our collective throats. Reality television, for example, makes explicit the idea that (capitalist) reality is a competition where everyone is deceiving everyone else, and where often the parameters of the game itself are a ruse (Joe the Millionaire, etc.). In this case, capitalism depends not on an externalized ideological fantasy, or an interpellated set of beliefs, but on the interzone of the media spectacle, which contains both. Reality television, tabloid media, etc collectivize the individual while individualizing the collective. My point is that capitalism still relies on some kind of internalization on the part of the consumer, which means that it can be altered by changing one's beliefs, perceptions and so on. In other words, the joke only works if you think it's funny."