Culture Wars Wiping & Evil R Us

[Brian D. McCary]

I'll fess up, I was the guy who originally injected the phrase "human
nature" into this debate, but the context appears to have been hijacked.
My original statement was that it appears to be human nature to use racial
pedigree to justify killing other people who may or may not be particularly
differant from us.  This statement was made with respect to the fact that
non-Jewish native Germans made a big deal about Jewish native Germans not
being "German".  Racial pedigree as an excuse.  Evil may or may not be 
inherant in people, but finding excuses for one's own evil behavior probably
is.  It certainly seems to cross cultural boundries.

I think Don hit the nail on the head.  I think Pynchon targets white culture
for the bulk of the blame, but he still seems to hold each person, regardless
of their race or relation to that culture, responsible for their reaction
to it.  Western culture may have more emphasis on differentiation and 
distinction than other cultures, at least in an analytical sense.  (There's
one statement supporting that idea, at least, ha ha)  This analytic approach
has been a useful tool in many ways, but it is a hammer in search of a nail.
Germans could look at their German neighbors, concentrate on their differances,
and find genocide palatable.  I'm sure that when one Papau tribe decides to
mass for a confrontation with another tribe, they don't rally themselves
with long orations about how much they have in common with the other tribe,
how much culture they share, or how closely they may be related, genetically.

I see this all through Pynchon's work.  Communication and concepts of
shared brotherhood forstall evil.  Distinction and the breaking down
into We vs. Them brings confrontation.  The tension in his stories comes
from the fact that We have to recognize that there are people out there,
in power, who regard Us not as We but rather as They, and that those people
represent a real threat to Us.  We have to respond to this threat without
becoming like them, and that is never easy.

Brian McCary