pynchon-l-digest V2 #1675

[Doug Millison]

rj:
>The "equation", as has been pointed out, is between the "yellow journalism",
>propaganda and ulterior motives of those who are distorting the historical
>record in order to label Bush or IBM or Disney as Nazis and war criminals,
>and the ulterior motives of the Nazi propaganda machine in exploiting
>anti-Semitic sentiment amongst the German public during and after the Great
Depression.

Just as it's absurd to claim equivalency between the Nazi 
justification of its persecution and extermination of its Holocaust 
victims with the actions of victims of those crimes who seek justice 
in the courts, so it remains absurd to claim equivalency between the 
Nazi propaganda project of justifying the Holocaust with the project 
of contemporary journalists and historians and novelists such as 
Thomas Pynchon who uncover historical links between multinational 
corporations and the Nazis, between the governments of the Allies and 
the Nazis, between specific individuals and the Nazis.  All this talk 
of "ulterior motives" is rather hysterical to the degree that it 
remains unleashed from any concrete discussion of what those motives 
might be.

Where is the organized and powerfully backed conspiracy of 
contemporary journalists, publishers, broadcasters, film-makers -- 
equivalent to the Nazi propaganda machine -- that acts in league with 
the government to falsely defame Bush and IBM and Disney and justify 
their persecution and extermination?  There is none. Individuals who 
have attempted to trace the links between the Bush family and the 
Nazis are shunned by the mainstream, corporate media, Bush's 
political opponents, or other potentially powerful allies.  If IBM is 
punished for what prove in court to be crimes as a result of its 
relationship with the Hitler and the Nazis, that will be the result 
of a legitimate judicial process that will, I expect, be transparent 
and open to public scrutiny.

rj:
>The equation is in the dishonesty, the insidious motives, the
>manipulation of public sentiment, the rhetorical exploitation of actual
>suffering, the incitement to hatred and persecution.

And it remains a bogus equation. Suggesting that journalists and 
historians are distorting the historical record, or acting 
dishonestly, or actually inciting to hatred and persecution, without 
offering any proof that such is the case, remains only an ugly smear 
and serves to blame the messenger instead of focusing on the message. 
I have a difficult time seeing these extremely powerful entities, IBM 
or the Bush family or the Nazis or Disney, as victims of persecution. 
Facing that power, a handful of individuals who  Pynchon and other 
writers who use historical fact (which I can, after all, trace back 
to source and judge credible or not) to show how these entities or 
their equivalents (Shell, IG Farben, and others, in Pynchon's case, 
in addition to the Nazis and Disney which he specifically addresses) 
promote, implement, and nurture policies and practices of War, 
environmental destruction, and the subtler but equally destructive 
program that Eco calls Ur-fascism.

rj:
>The German Jews were not yet "victims" at the time this groundswell of
>anti-Semitic sentiment was being whipped up by the Nazis (cf. Pynchon's
>representation of Pflaumbaum in _GR_.)


I think that davemarc has done a good job of pointing us to an 
historical record that amply demonstrates how Jews have been victims 
for centuries, throughout Europe. To suggest otherwise is a rather 
startling claim.

rj:
>All the talk about the judicial system and morality and civil rights is
>really just a smokescreen isn't it? Opinion polls stand for nought in courts
>of law or systems of ethics or the "historical record". Words are cheap.

This is an extremely cynical and unbalanced view. More realistic to 
say that most people believe that what is said and how it is said 
matters a great deal, and that justice and morality and civil rights 
are important to defend.  I include Pynchon in this group.

-- 
d  o  u  g    m  i  l  l  i  s  o  n  <http://www.online-journalist.com>