the post-911 Situation Jbor & Pynchon

[barbara100 at jps.net]

Blasphemous Jbor said it again:
> it's more than likely that Pynchon supports the
> current international coalition against terrorism.

To use one of your own pathetic little tricks, Jbor: Prove it! Find me one
Pynchon quote that supports your ludicrous assertion.  I can find 10 or 20
or 30 or a fucking thousand against! but can you find me one for?
'Statistical probability' my ass! Go blind your self with somebody else's
literature!

"American voices, country voices, high-pitched and without mercy.  He lies
freezing, wondering if the bedspring will give him away.  For possibly the
first time he is hearing America as it must sound to a non-American.  Later
he will recall that what surprised him most was the fanaticism, the reliance
not just on flat force but on the *rightness* of what they planned to
do...he'd been told long ago to expect this sort of thing from Nazis, and
especially from Japs--*we* were the ones who always played fair--but this
pair outside the door now are as demoralizing as a close-up of John Wayne
(the angle emphasizing how slanted his eyes are, funny you never noticed)
screaming 'BANZI!'"
(GR  298)

----- Original Message -----
From: jbor <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Saturday, October 20, 2001 12:52 AM
Subject: Re: the post-911 Situation, Vietnam & Pynchon


> on 19/10/01 10:44 AM, The Great Quail at quail at libyrinth.com wrote:
>
> >> I wonder,
> >> instead of spending your time pontificating and excoriating Barbara,
why
> >> don't you challenge rj/rjackson/jbor/?'s assertion that Pynchon would
> >> approve of the Bush's war on Afghanistan?
> >
> > Because though I don't agree with him, I only see it as his opinion
> > on a minor issue to me. If I posted my disagreements with every
> > opinion that I don't hold to, I would jam up the list. Frankly, I
> > just don't see the issue of Pynchon's agreement or disapproval as
> > something I wish to debate. Also, there's just no real way of arguing
> > what Pynchon thinks, without a tedious round of my quote/your quote.
>
> Just to clarify a few things, there is no "war on Afghanistan", but on an
> oppressive regime within that country, and it's certainly not "Bush's war
on
> Afghanistan". These are factual distortions: propaganda. I agree that it
is
> a minor issue, but the main point I made was that whatever his personal
> opinion Pynchon doesn't appear to feel it is qualified or authoritative
> enough to warrant offering publicly. His reluctance to use his celebrity
to
> offer public comment, or to exploit current events to fuel this celebrity,
> is something which hasn't been acknowledged and should be, as it is this
> very reluctance which characterises his ideology. I'd argue that it's a
more
> reasonable and respectable (and respectful) stance than that adopted by
> people like Vidal or Sontag or Chomsky.
>
> Prior U.S. foreign policy has been despicable, I agree, but the current
> "Situation" is markedly different to any previous "Situation" the U.S. has
> faced, apart from, perhaps, Pearl Harbour, and it's a comparison of the
two
> responses I'd be seeing as most pertinent at this juncture.
>
>                         MB DRO
>                          ROSHI
>
> Further, I honestly don't think there's anything in _GR_, or any of the
> texts, to suggest that Pynchon supported the policy of Appeasement prior
to
> WWII (cf. Blatherard Osmo and Novi Pazar, saving "Europe from Balkan
> Armageddon ... though not from World War II, of course" 16, or blithering
> Pudding and his _Things That Can Happen in European Politics_ 77), or that
> he believes there can *never* be justification for a reasoned, strategic
> military response in self-defence or in the interests of peace. If there
is
> I've yet to see it presented, here or elsewhere. On statistical
probability
> alone, which is all that anybody has to go on (unless Doug can read
> Pynchon's mind, of course), it's more than likely that Pynchon supports
the
> current international coalition against terrorism.
>
> best
>
>