News: Pynchon interviewed in Playboy Japan re 9-11

[Doug Millison]

The current edition of Playboy Japan contains an article on 9-11 that
includes an interview with Thomas Pynchon.

I asked a Japanese friend of mine, Naoki Yamamoto,  to get a copy of the
magazine, which I will send along to John Krafft for his collection of
Pynchon-related materials.  Professor Krafft has already received a copy of
this translation; he's the person who alerted me to to the existence of the
Playboy Japan interview in the first place.

Naoki offers this translation of Pynchon's remarks, which I pass along
below, with Naoki's introductory remarks.  Naoki has promised to send along
a more complete translation; I will post it to Pynchon-L when he does.

-Doug


To: JohnKrafft
From: Doug Millison <millison at online-journalist.com>
Subject: translation Fwd: Pynchon in Playboy Japan
Cc:
Bcc:
X-Attachments:

John,

Here's a translation of the Pynchon interview.

Later,

-Doug

>Delivered-To: millison at barney.sfrn.dnai.com
>Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 13:18:39 +0900
>From: Naoki Yamamoto <naoki at matatabi.com>
>To: millison at online-journalist.com
>Subject: Pynchon in Playboy Japan
>User-Agent: Wanderlust/2.6.1 (Upside Down) SEMI/1.14.3
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>Status:  U
>
>
>Hi, Doug.
>
>I just went to a local bookstore and got the Playboy with the Pynchon
>interview. I am reading it at a Cafe right now. If your friend want
>this issue, I can send it to you.
>
>His interview is only a page long in a feature article titled " The
>Day After: America's suffering". Some parts of that feature seem to
>come directly from the U.S. edition and the rest are written by a
>Japanese writer(?). The Pynchon piece is done by the Japanese
>writer. There is no photo although every other interview in the
>feature has a head-shot -- John Updike, Jared Diamond, Benjamin
>R. Barber and Thomas Friedman (New York Times).
>
>I am going to try my best to translate quickly what Pynchon said in
>the article while I sip tea here. I find the interview is somehow
>fragmented --talking about many things. It is not well organised. I
>suspect that it was just a chat or phone conversation turned into an
>article.
>
>This is not a full word-by-word translation. I summarized the article.
>
>Best,
>
>Naoki
>
>----
>Title Copy:  Most news is propaganda: There might be no Bin-Laden ever.
>
>New Yorkers constantly talk about the WTC and visiting the attack
>site. Some went to see the site and the others have not seen the site
>yet. It is the trendy topic of the time. But, I feel that it will take
>some time before I want to visit the site.
>
>Since the attacks, I stopped taking subway. I'm afraid of chemical
>weapon. I am not surprised if chemical weapons are used against us
>anytime soon.
>
>CNN is the media that report on the terrorism all the time. Many
>Americans watch CNN and they all have the same information. But, it is
>the real danger that people believe the news on CNN is the news.
>
>The newscasters on the TV just read the tele-prompter in order to fill
>air time. They seem affectless and I don't like it. When I listen them
>carefully, there is not much news. Most are propaganda.
>
>The attacks have changed the New York Times. I used to wake up one
>hour early to read that paper, but now it is not worth reading sitting
>down. There is little useful news in the Times. Most are propaganda.
>
>The Times was the most reliable media, but no more. Today, the Guardian
>of England is the most reliable newspaper. People read it on the
>Internet. I think the information from White house also has a lot of
>propaganda.
>
>The problem is the average citizen cannot distinguish the real news
>from the propaganda. You don't believe it, but there is quite reliable
>news from Israel.
>
>In the time of war, controlling the information is important and those
>respected papers cannot be trusted.
>
>The founder of Daily Mail (published 100 years ago in London) once
>said "News is something somebody wants to suppress.  Everything else
>is propaganda."
>
>Those information that can be obtained easily is most likely
>to be propaganda even when they come from White house.
>
>America always looks for an enemy. The country always needs it. It has
>made Bin Laden the real brain behind the attacks. Because it is easy
>and it makes us feel good. But I think there is somebody else and
>Laden is just a puppet.
>
>You may think I am a paranoia. But it is not only me to think like
>that. NSA is supposed to watch Laden, but I think it was not he alone
>responsible for the attacks. I have an impression that Laden is just a
>front-man.
>
>I wonder if those photos of Bin Laden on TV and newspapers are the
>real him. Right after the attacks, I remembered someone said " Come on,
>you want bin Laden? We'll give you 20 of him."
>
>After America kills a Bin Laden, there will be 19 more. Even there is
>only one Bin Laden, there are many who want to succeed him.
>
>If you look at it from another angle, Bin Laden is a symbol rather
>than a human. There may be no Bin Laden ever existed.
>
>I read this on the Internet. The best punishment for Bin Laden is to
>perform sex-change operation on him after catching him alive. Then,
>return him back to Afghan and make him understand how they treat
>women there.
>
>We should not forget that many of bin Laden's brothers were once the
>business partners of the Bush. The doctor who is the right-hand man to
>bin Laden was a member of the assassins who killed Sadat. There may be
>others who run away from Egypt after the assassination.
>
>People often mention that they hate America because we are rich. I can
>understand it well. When I see wealthy people, I feel anger
>instinctively. It is natural for Afghans to hate wealthy America. They
>just cannot help from hating her.
>
>It is not going to solve all the problems if America stops supporting
>Israel. However, from the Arab perspective, Israel is the source of
>all the problems.
>
>Finally, if I want to invest in stock now, I am going to invest in the
>tobacco industry. After the attacks, many who had quit smoking, has
>begun to smoke again.
>
>--End--
>
>
>--
>Naoki Yamamoto <naoki at matatabi.com> in Yokohama, Japan
>Matatabi Digital Industry Report <http://www.matatabi.com>
>Gpg Fingerprint = B2A7 2A11 C50B DCC4 83EB  9311 607A FAE9 386B F070
>Public Key available from <http://www.matatabi.com/naoki_pubkey.html>
>






Doug Millison - Writer/Editor/Web Editorial Consultant
millison at online-journalist.com
www.Online-Journalist.com