more on fraud on the internet

[jester]

At 02:10 PM 08/07/1997 -0400, PG wrote:

Actually, I couldn't care less who wrote the stupid alleged "commencement
speech" which turned out to be a hoax.  I thought it was freakin funny --
and I get alot of this stuff in my inbox everyday -- humor with NO author
listed... I just forward it along and do my little part to help spread the
anarchy.  Infact, I forward it allthe time... many times CLIPPING the
author's names right off the top... keeping it anonymous... I'm a damned
dispicable bastard... never make a good librarian, that's for sure... hahahaha

Hey, personally, I think some folk take the Internet way too seriously.
Sure, it could have been a great research tool -- and still can be if the
sources are verified, right Peter? :)  But I think the vast majority of us
who are immersed in cyberculture have come to realize that the internet is
not the great Information Age it's made out to be, and not even the
MIS-Information age critics like to call it... but it is the chief tool of
our budding INTERACTIVE age -- it's the first time in human history that
just about anyone can interact with the world, publish letters, creative
writing, editorials of all kinds, put up web pages, cause all sorts of
trouble... :)  The internet has been overcome with pop culture and urban
legend.  It's everywhere... in encroaches from the barber shops and grocery
lines into the halls of academia via the internet... and that gets some folk
worried.. but heck, take it with a grain of salt...

Is this a positive thing?  I don't know.  In some ways it is creating a new
vision of society, of world, of community -- and of individual... i find
myself connecting with countless individuals who think the way I do, share
the same ideas and opinions that I do... and I likewise find myself debating
issues and sharing complementary ideas with others... I learn quite a bit...
I get news flashes faster than AP sometime... and damn... I've become more
cynical and paranoid than ever... but I've made some great friends and
relationships out of the deal.  I'd say it's a pretty good thing...  One
thing about the internet... it places most people on the same footing... I
see college professors and construction workers duking it out in places like
Pynchon-l -- there is the ivory tower and the "real" world clashing in one
forum... the elect and the preterite merging... scary... and somewhere.. out
there... someone is documenting the whole thing and packaging it all neatly
in little archives...

Personally, I enjoy even that 'tabloidish" stuff floating through this list.
heck, i wanna know what cereal Tom eats for breakfast... I've just gotta
know!  It's all part of the game, of the experience, man... It's living...
and life is a wondrous and insane thing... it's chaos and order clashing on
the edge of eternity... and it's a very short time in a very small world,
and there's no reason to be bored... I say, loosen the freakin' tie and
let's dance, baby!
[soundtrack supplied by some Thin White Dude in Baggy Pants and Sharp
Leather Shoes -- saxaphone intro, cut to rhythm...]

POV shot through my eyes, the scene is pretty screwed up... <insert shot --
newspaper front page> my 82 year old next door neighbor was strangled to
death by her son's gay lover so they could steal $300 to go score some
crack.  <hard cut> <insert shot, angle down, wide> They came home, smoked
the drugs then took turns sodomizing each other right next to her cold
stiffening corpse... <interplay between wide shot and close ups reverse
angle> He was a quiet man, always kept up with the yard work <insert shot
house exterior wide angle>, read the NY Times <reverse angle shot, interior
kitchen, angle on man reading paper>, smoked Marlboros and beat his invalid
mother behind closed doors <silouette door, sounds of screams OS>. 

Nice scene, all true. Very cinematic.. make a good tv movie.  So put it in
perspective folks... we're talking about books here, and life goes on
outside our little list.  Tom's books are funny, heh?  Disturbing?  Thought
provoking?  Entertaining? The Pynchon "Mythos" is all part of that, and he
knows it.  I think he uses it to his advantage, and probably gets a damn
good laugh at our expense... when these posts are forwarded to him (I used
to think he was subscribed... but couldn't imagine him stomaching much of it ;)

>I would add second Number two above - What is remarkable is how much people
>want to believe - 

Just remember, it's easy to BELIEVE... it's hard to see the truth... Life
for Tom is as mundane as our own... he just punctuates it every now and then
with jaunts to smokey rock n' roll clubs to watch no-name indie bands, and
allegedly writeshe  letters to newspapers under pseudonyms (no I don't
really believe it.. but then again, why not... :)  Who cares!? ;)

>The internet often seems to serve as a version of those
>supermarket tabloids - Apparently Vonnegut's own wife was fooled by this
>story - 

Oh, you have no idea!!!  hahaha  How much exposure do you have on the net?
Every check out the web in all it's glory?  I suggest a few hours surfing
through sites linked to disinfo's page -- very cool conspiracy stuff... and
you just have to wonder, how much of this is real, and if 5% of it is true
-- we're all in a heap o' shit!  Seriously, check em out... www.disinfo.com,
I believe.  AP can't write stuff better than this! hahaha

>It is much, much easier to make up stories about an author like
>Thomas Pynchon because he does not respond and tries to keep his private
>life private - Bogus stories about pig masks ands rocket pencils satisfy
>some fans' need to be "closer" to their favorite author but they serve only
>to distort our understanding of the author's work - 

Ah bullocks!  Read the books.  Who cares about Pynchon?  Separate the man
from the literature -- that's why you think he's anonymous anyway, right?  I
mean, I personally think much of this ancillary stuff  makes Tom look more
like an overgrown Muppet than anything else anyway... it's part of the fun,
man! :)  Hey, that's it, the vision of Tom we get from folk like Jules and
the CNN pics and all that jazz make Tom out to be an overgrown Muppet!
HAHAHA  rotfl

>And the act of selling
>off stories and fables about the "real" Pynchon only serves to underscore
>exactly what Pynchon warns us of in his writing -

I think one of the best lessons we can learn from Pynchon's writing...and
PLEASE correct me if you really disagree... is that we shouldn't take life
so seriously, or we might forget to enjoy living... look at poor Oedipa Maas
-- or ( a much more severe case) Brock Vond...  I'd much rather chill out
and smoke dope with Zoyd.

>The best way (in my opinion) to understand Pynchon's work is to reject the
>fables and stories spread about him -

Ah shucks... I thought that flame war was over ;)  Seriously, yeah -- I
agree -- but kill the damn author altogether... if he's not IN the book,
then fuck him... but then again, I'm one of those raving mad
postmodernists... ;)

>When people make claims about an
>author one should question the source of the claims and unless those claims
>can be verified they should be rejected -

Sure, if we're writing a biography about him... or a scholarly paper... but
isn't fiction great?  We can write anything!  hahahaha  Of course, I do
agree we SHOULDN"T pass off fiction as fact... that would be "unethical."
But on the internet... it's all subjective... heck, in life it's all
subjective... what's the truth anyway?  Whose truth is really true?  Prove it. 

Suspect everything.  Suspect everyone.  Question authority.  Watch your back.

>Pynchon's talent should (and
>does) speak for itself

Absolutely correct.  That's why we're all here! :)  And remember.. if it's
written... especially if it's in print or on tv, it's true... believe it...
they are telling you the truth, for your own good...