[lbo-talk] Zizek on Abu Ghraib

Jeffrey Fisher jfisher at igc.org
Thu Jun 24 18:17:26 PDT 2004


On Thursday, June 24, 2004, at 07:54 PM, Carl Remick wrote:


>> From: "Grant Lee" <grantlee at iinet.net.au>
>>
>> Between Two Deaths: The Culture of Torture
>> Slavoj Zizek
>>
>> * * * *
>>
>> ... When I first saw the notorious photograph of a
>> prisoner wearing a black hood, electric wires attached to his limbs
>> as he
>> stood on a box in a ridiculous theatrical pose, my reaction was that
>> this
>> must be a piece of performance art... Anyone acquainted with the US
>> way
>> of life will have recognised in the photographs the obscene underside
>> of US
>> popular culture. You can find similar photographs in the US press
>> whenever
>> an initiation rite goes wrong in an army unit or on a high school
>> campus ...
>
> Hmm, maybe Zizek has a bolder selection of tabloids at his supermaket
> checkout than I do at mine, but I have never seen any photo in the US
> press concerning "an initiation rite [that] goes wrong in an army unit
> or on a high school campus" that approximates the Abu Ghraib pix.
>

maybe this one? http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/05/07/hs.hazing/ http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Midwest/05/08/hs.hazing/

no, they're not nude, but otherwise pretty much in the ballpark. note also that some participants here thought taking pictures was a good idea, as they often do, because they think it's all ok. that's why we have photos. sounds familiar . . .

see also: http://hazing.hanknuwer.com/hs2.html

yes, true, these aren't pics, but we don't *need* to see the pics . . . the pics only confirm what we already know.

j



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