OKC and other bombs

[grip at netcom.com]

On Mon, 1 May 1995, Stuart Moulthrop wrote:

> OKC has made me shudder down to the core of my Pynchonism, considering the
> congruencies between the Tristero (esp.) and today's rightwing underground
> -- or for that matter, the subterranean/paranoid world of _Vineland_ and
> the current militia movement.
> 
> Actually, the latest from the Unabomber has been more depressing than any
> revelations from OKC.  Check out his broadside to the NYT, or the letter to
> David Gelernter where he says, essentially, "I'm blowing you up because you
> help the economy grow."  For sure, a mad-growth economy is a Bus of Doom,
> but what does zero growth presume?  Population controls?  Eugenics?
> Euthanasia? -- especially when the opponents of growth are proponents of
> terror.  Can you say  "Stalin?"  How about "Pol Pot?"
> 
I think a lot of this is analogous to a girl scout camp's evening 
campfire scary story. Yes, it did happen. Yes, there are crazies out there 
(and in here too!). But we seem to enjoy the spectacle, at a distance, 
and are fascinated and intrigued by the idea of SOMETHING happening to 
break us out of the rather dreary mode of living in which most of us find 
ourselves. A shudder along the spine as we view the wreakage in OKC and 
at the same time a bit of regret, carefully hidden, indignantly denied, 
that we ourselves weren't more closely involved. Who, if we're honest, 
didn't fantasize a bit about being in the building, escaping death with a 
few scratches, and heroically carrying out the injured to safety or being 
rescued after a time. Ah, the stories we could tell!

Is it akin to our yearning to be able to create a masterpiece like GR?
(I had to have some Pynchonic reference. :)  )

grip