pynchon-l-digest V2 #2109

[Doug Millison]

Dear Quail,

I get it that you and a few others don't like the "tone" of some of my
posts, and you few have mentioned this before.  You don't seem to like the
tone of people I've quoted, either, who analyze and critique the current
situation from points of view other than that of the Bush Administration.

I'm glad in one sense that you have the oppotunity to address me as you do
in this forum.  Not many of us have the option of telling people in our
lives all the things we don't like about them and that we wish they would
just go away.  If the P-list is a safe place for you to get that out of
your system, then I'm glad you have this outlet.  I'm glad I have a DELETE
button so I can turn off the people I get tired of.

Perhaps you don't have a full appreciation of the "tone" of your own posts
that judge what I have to say (speaking of sounding smug and preachy...),
or the dismayingly vengeful and
self-righteous tone of so many of the posts that have urged war in this
forum since 9-11.  At Ground Zero, I understand it may be difficult to
listen or hear much -- although what I hear from the friends and family I
have in Manhattan is not a call for war or for more innocent people to be
killed or maimed, to the contrary, they want peace and justice.

I'm still surprised that bringing alternative voices into this discussion
causes such distress.  By no means are we all U.S patriots on this list,
nor should we be, given the international nature of Pynchon-L membership. I
have no doubt that "Morris" has an emailbox full
of support for the demonizing, inflammatory stuff that he's been posting.
Lots of people support what I've been posting, too.  Not everybody agrees
that the U.S. needs to kill innocent
civilians in order to pursue some vaguely defined strategy to "end
terrorism."

It's a bit difficult to follow all of your windy screed, but at some point
you seem to be questioning  my love of this country and its culture.
You're  off
base in this respect, probably because you are ignorant of so many facts
about my life.  I served this country in the U.S. Army for two years during
the
Vietnam War -- diverted at the last minute to Korea, I drew combat pay
there due to hostile fire across the fence in the DMZ during our monthly
maneuvers.  I was drafted, I put myself in harm's way instead of taking
another option (going to Canada, etc.).
Speaking of being trapped in the 60s:  the general rhetorical move that you
and some others have made here, to try to stifle analysis of what the U.S.
has done and may do from points of view other than the
U.S.-Might-Makes-Right and the call for blood revenge, that's precisely
what the "America, love it or leave it" crowd had to say back then. But, it
remains true now, as it was then, that a person can love this country and
also criticize its faults, and take actions to help the country better live
up to its ideals of democracy, freedom, and justice.  Even in the ranks of
the U.S Army, many of us, a surprisingly large fraction, became critics of
U.S. policy, as we learned more about what our country was in fact doing
overseas, seeing -- as Pynchon appears to see, judging from what he writes
about the bitch goddess America in his novels   -- the huge disconnect
between USA  the
symbol and USA the participant in world affairs. Some of us in the U.S.
Army, seeing
violence and the results of violence first hand, even became pacifists.

So, Quail, help yourself to whatever points of view you wish to entertain
or encourage.  I'll continue to take advantage of the civil liberties we
still enjoy in this country, and I'll express the opinions that I choose to
express.

Peace,
Doug


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