[lbo-talk] "Cheer the Fuck Up"

[snitilicious at tampabay.rr.com]

At 09:58 AM 5/2/2004, Ted Winslow wrote:
>Michael Pollak quoted Aristotle:
>
>>>In any event, the soldiers in Iraq were behaving more in accord with the
>>>ethics of Foucault and Zizek than with those of Aristotle and Kant,
>>>weren't they?
>>
>>"Of the modes of persuasion some are technical, others non-technical.
>>By
>>the latter I mean such things as are not supplied by the speaker but are
>>there at the outset -- witnesses, evidence given under torture, written
>>contracts, and so on."
>>
>>                         Aristotle, _Rhetoric_, Book I, 1355, 36-38.
>
>It's torture for fun, torture as an end in itself, that's at issue 
>Michael.  "In most of the pictures, the Americans are laughing, posing, 
>pointing, or giving the camera a thumbs-up."
>
>There's also a Canadian case with movies and photographs.
>
><http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-71-723-4318/conflict_war/somalia/clip8>

IIRC, Zizek talks about the justification, "I'm doing it for your own 
good." This suggests a grim dispenser of justice, in the name of the Other, 
not someone who appears to be doing it for their own and others amusement.

The enjoyment, says Zizek, is the enjoyment of the Other, for whom the 
person is supposedly acting, "I do this for you own good. It's hurts me 
more than it hurts you."

He also criticized the enjoyment derived from compassion in his post 911 
essay. In that essay, Zizek argues that the position taken by those who 
hesitate to identify with the 911 victims because they fear supporting u.s. 
imperialism is a form of enjoyment. Those who say, "but we deserved it 
because of what we've done in the middle east," are enjoying the suffering 
of others. Similarly, those who identify with the dominant u.s. narrative 
of nationalism where 911 was a special 'American Tragedy' suffered by no 
others are enjoying the suffering of others.

Zizek wants us to express grief outside of these two poles, where we 
recognize that the appropriate stance is solidarity with all victims, 
unconditionally.

What an evil way of thinking. it's obviously a way of thinking that support 
torture for fun.

Kelley