grgr: nazi occultism

[Muchasmasgracias at cs.com]

In a message dated 5/7/00 10:04:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
Lycidas at worldnet.att.net writes:

<< This "German sickness" is
 tied to an old Pynchon concern, the influence of "texts"
 (books, film, architecture, etc.) on the young mind.    >>


This will be a tedious point, especially since I mean it in the least 
accusatory sense possible (which may run counter to the tenor of the 
list...), but when I saw the above quoted I instantly felt like I would be 
more comfortable to see it written as '"German" sickness' to mock the very 
idea that it is something inherently Germanic which is at issue here.  After 
all, if we are attributing something to the influence of "texts" then that is 
as fundamental to the issue as anything.

And I'm in the middle of Understanding Media right now so this is making me 
think very much about McLuhan.  Pardon my french, but Pynchon must have 
gotten a serious hard-on while reading Gutenberg Gallaxy and Understanding 
Media back in the day.  (What day?  I dunno...)

I'd like to go on one of those mad quoting dashes, but instead I'll just take 
the easy way out and ask if anyone's read McLuhan's take on the printing 
press as a source of nationalism?

(Attributing effects on the development of media technology.  Ooo, isn't that 
a bit occultish even?  Or perhaps just a nod to the reality of accidents?)