Zizek and 9/11

Zizek

Zizek’s assertions about 9/11 were certainly shocking for their time. He, perhaps at the most controversial time in America, asserted that the scale of 9/11 was necessitated by American culture. America, at the time and currently, he stated, was fascinated with terror and violence— pop culture thrived upon the fascination of the catastrophic. Zizek states that this fascination catalyzed 9/11.

“It is spurring how little of the actual carnage we see… in clear contrast to reporting on Third World catastrophes. The real horror happens there, not here.” (232)

The truth of war is dirty. It is not clean, there are no victors in a real sense. War is reported on a different sort of spectrum, however. It is glorified. Victors and winners are decided using few metrics— few of which include the number of casualties, or inflicted infrastructural damages. 

“Operation Iraqi Freedom” 

The coverage of the War of Iraq was specifically demonstrative of this trend. The naming of the conflict was a particularly useful rhetorical device— as the entire conflict was framed as a job of American forced to free Iraqi civilians from a repressive regime and harmful fundamental insurgents. Rather than depicting the conflict holistically, it was by and large categorized as a conflict without casualties. The irony was not lost on anyone.

This trend is characteristic of almost all conflicts post 9/11. Under former President Barack Obama, drone warfare was marketed again as a safe alternative to modern warfare. While probably a better alternative to “boots on the ground”, there is no “safe alternative” to warfare, specifically for the targets and casualties of warfare. While death is certainly minimized for American soldiers, it is not minimized for Iraqi’s and Afghani’s set as the drone’s target and located in the target’s immediate vicinity. 

It’s also an interesting note that a “combatant” in the US military is defined as a military age man in a certain geographical area. There is little legitimate criterion in defining combatants victim to drone warfare. 

Is this the Iraqi Freedom? 

“THE WORST THING ABOUT KILLING SOMEBODY UNDER A FLAG IS THE PAPERWORK”

“THEY ASKED A SNIPER WHAT HE FELT WHEN HE KILLED COMBATANTS, HE SAID ‘RECOIL’”

https://www.google.com/search?q=drone+warfare&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjW-7e7gYbeAhUxWN8KHeutDZIQ_AUIESgE&biw=1179&bih=739#imgrc=a01DId2iJuTSKM: