Abu Ghraib as obscene underside of military culture

As told 4

“those guys in prison there by annoying, torturing, those being cruel to the prisoners, they were effectively staging there this obscene underground other side”
22:05 No Sex please, We are Post-Human2009-01-20 · 1:20:27

“What Iraqi soldiers experienced there was the staging of the obscene underside of the American military culture.”
1:21:59 The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012)2012 · 2:10:30

“hypocrisy is better than obscene openness at least till now they tried to cover it up interpret it away”
1:17:27 Slavoj Zizek's "THE PARALLAX OF LACK AND SURPLUS IN POLITICS" (LACK V, 2025)2025-03-15 · 1:28:55

What it carries

one story, many jobs: the ideas this anecdote is deployed to argue, one tally mark per use (an idea page shows the same relation from the other end, as its shelf of stories)

contents · one story, 3 jobsuses

obscene supplement ×2 obscene underside ×1 shamelessness ×1

Its cast and sources

populated by

Lindsay Anderson2 Nikos Kazantzakis2 Miloš Forman2 Bob Fosse2 John Frankenheimer2 Michelangelo Antonioni2 Abimael Guzmán2 Martin Scorsese2

alongside works

Zabriskie Point2 M*A*S*H2 If...2 A Clockwork Orange2 Capital, Volume 12 West Side Story2 Taxi Driver2 Full Metal Jacket2

Told together with

40% Abandoned planes in the Mojave Desert 2 shared talks 40% The Last Temptation of Christ 2 shared talks 40% Full Metal Jacket, the drill sergeant and Private Pyle 2 shared talks 40% Brief Encounter, the busybody as the big Other 2 shared talks 33% Prague Spring saved by Soviet intervention 2 shared talks 33% The Fall of Berlin, Stalin as divine matchmaker 2 shared talks 33% Bosnian rape survivors and the absent big Other 2 shared talks 29% Sound of Music censored in communist Yugoslavia 2 shared talks 25% Rammstein and neo-Nazis 2 shared talks 20% Kinder Surprise Egg 2 shared talks 18% Jaws shark as ideological condensation 2 shared talks 6% Starbucks ethical consumerism 2 shared talks

Every retelling 4

22:05 No Sex please, We are Post-Human2009-01-20 · 1:20:27

A friend shown the first Abu Ghraib torture photo (prisoner in strange dress attached to cords) thought it looked like off-off-Broadway avant-garde theater; Žižek reads it as the staging of the obscene underside of American and military culture, not an aberration., illustrating obscene underside,ideology

1:21:59 The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology (2012)2012 · 2:10:30

The Abu Ghraib photos are not simply arrogant Americans humiliating others; they staged the obscene underside of American military culture, the unwritten rituals every community depends on., illustrating obscene supplement,ideology and violence

1:17:27 Slavoj Zizek's "THE PARALLAX OF LACK AND SURPLUS IN POLITICS" (LACK V, 2025)2025-03-15 · 1:28:55

In the Q&A, Žižek responds to the Abu Ghraib comparison by arguing that American torturers at least tried to cover up and deny, making hypocrisy preferable to the current practice of openly and proudly admitting prisoner abuse without any regret., illustrating shamelessness,obscene openness

1:20:14 The Pervert's Guide to Ideology (2012) - Slavoj Žižek2012 · 2:07:58

The Abu Ghraib torture and humiliation of Iraqi prisoners was not simply arrogant Americans humiliating others but the staging of the obscene underside of American military culture, the same mixture of obscenity and sadistic violence found in hazing rituals., illustrating obscene supplement,ideology and enjoyment