{"id":9472,"date":"2025-08-08T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9472"},"modified":"2025-05-04T19:54:24","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T19:54:24","slug":"looking-at-slavoj-zizeks-book-2024-christian-atheism-part-22-of-33","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.raziemah.com\/blog\/?p=9472","title":{"rendered":"Looking at Slavoj Zizek’s Book (2024) “Christian Atheism” (Part 22 of 33)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

0229 Okay, all the labels of the title of chapter four, “The Sacred, the Obscene and the Undead”, have been touched upon in the example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “sacred” refers to the category-based nested form<\/em> on the level above sensible construction<\/em>.  When sensible construction fails (as in the case here), it is time to consult the gods, or the judges, or the purveyors of social construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The “undead” refers the jurisdiction of Los Angeles, a city that is not alive, but not dead, either. That goes for me, as well.  I, the child of immigrants, exiles in a foreign land, am simultaneously both living (a person born within the jurisdiction of Los Angeles) and dead (held outside of the application of the law to its citizens).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0230 The “obscene” associates to the content-level potential of human copulation1a<\/sub>, [gestation and labor]2a<\/sub> as well as the normal context of human reproduction3a<\/sub>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, it is a messy nasty business, but there are lucrative opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0231 For example, pornographers make lots of money depicting the obscene through various visual technologies.  Some are good at it.  Some are not so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0232 Indeed, here is the obscene story of how I came to be<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Los Angeles, a pornographer runs a catering and party business as nice cover for… you know… the naughty aspects of his operations.  One spring, he contracts to arrange a dinner and dance party for the Committee for Profits and Propaganda<\/em> (the CPP), an institution devoted to the integration of commercially successful cinema with big government (il)liberal messaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pornographer has figured a new business model<\/em> for his um… “documentaries”.  Since humans are so expensive, he would have his “genius” cousin build a mechanical simulator.  Then, he can start with humans, then switch to simulation, and save a ton of money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0233 Now, his “genius” cousin works for a former (?) scientist, who lost his job when the aerospace industry in southern California downsized. The scientist now employs himself and occasionally, the “genius” related to the pornographer, in various exploratory projects in his make-shift laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also buys and sells home-grown marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0234 Among the scientist’s diverse projects<\/em> are two interesting items that attract the eyes of the genius cousin<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first is an AI-style computer that looks like a human head, and is capable of learning how to move various mechanical contractors and extensors on its wooden body.  The scientist thinks that the robot will be life-like and light-weight enough to put into the passenger seat of an automobile<\/em> (so one can drive in the highway lanes restricted to more than one passenger) and then back into the car’s trunk<\/em> at home and at office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ideally, the wooden robot would learn how to get into the passenger seat and the trunk on its own.  Plus, play tunes, conduct conversations and other amenities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0235 The second is an eight inch wooden tube, that looks just like solid wooden cylinder, but is hollowed out and layered with flammable plastic in a particular a fashion.  There is a small hole on one end and a larger hole on the other.  Once ignited, air is sucked through the small end and a flaming vortex ejects out the other end, to the distance of over five meters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is the design.  The scientist makes several, but does not involve his genius assistant, because he does not want his work-building to burn down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

0236 The genius cousin<\/em> figures that he can borrow the robot and use one of those furniture legs on the scientist’s desk.  He intends to glue the edge of the cylinder to one side of a door hinge and glue the other side to the wooden pelvis of the robot.  He also takes a big block of wood, after drilling a hole at a good angle for the hinged cylinder to “ride”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0237 On the night of the CPP party, he brings the robot, cylinder and platform to the hotel where the pornographer is catering.  They have access to a conference room next to the ballroom.  The pornographer is well pleased.  The robot follows instructions quite well.  The team sets up the cameras and are ready to go. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

0238 The pornographer goes to the waiting staff, lines them up, then selects two specimens.  He needs them for a special detail, the rest can carry on serving the dinner, and so forth.  He brings the pair to his makeshift studio and offers them a deal.  His cousin would run the camera.  All the two needed to do was undress until naked, then kiss.  They would get $100 cash and then could go back waiting tables at the party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, they could not tell anyone about this filming business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0239 After a brief discussion, Miguel and Gabriela agree.  It is a little embarrassing, since they are only acquaintances. They do what the boss asks for, then put their clothes back on and go back to work, serving the CPP banquet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is an easy 100 bucks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0240 One part of the script accomplished, the genius assembles the simulation and soon enough, the wooden robot with an AI-head rhythmically thrusts the attached wooden cylinder into the platform’s portal.  The clacking is loud, but not so loud as to disturb the banquet speech next door.  The pornographer is delighted as the camera rolls, and the genius strives for various close ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After several minutes, the friction of wood rubbing on wood starts to produce smoke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pornographer laughs and yells, “I have a title!  Smoking hot love!”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0241 Smoke indicates fire.  Fire ignites the inner flammable-plastic conduit in the wooden cylinder and a collimated flame starts to shoot from the region that the cameras are focused on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, a surprising sequence of events occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0242 The AI-style robot head, which had been sort of figuring out what the pornographer and his cousin are up to (in a physics sort of way), suddenly acts like any human adult male who has a flaming vortex emanating from his eight-inch cylinder<\/em>.  He goes berserk<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stands up and runs directly through the paper-thin wall of the conference room and enters the ballroom, while yelling a barrage of computer-based warnings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0243 Of course, the hundred or so participants at the CPP banquet are stunned and fascinated by the sudden appearance of a distressed wooden robot with a well-collimated flame erupting out of his you-know-what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the flame sets a nearby table on fire, panic ensues.  The robot continues further into the room, setting more tables on fire.  Someone pulls the hotel’s fire alarm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0244 In the mayhem, Miguel and Gabriela end up locking themselves inside a mop-and-bucket closet.  They pray. Then, the noise recedes and then embrace.  Miguel asks Gabriela to marry him.  She accepts.  Then, an obscene act that the pornographer would have loved to capture on film<\/em> ensues.  In the process, I am conceived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am born in Los Angeles, when the sun is in the sign of Capricorn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

0229 Okay, all the labels of the title of chapter four, “The Sacred, the Obscene and the Undead”, have been touched upon in the example. 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