MDMD: The Crime of Anonymity

[Paul Mackin]

At the risk of blaspheming the great God Paranoia, does commission of the
crime of "politically subversive writer" penalize one more or fewer
drivers-licence points than the crime of "anonymity?"

        P.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Otto" <o.sell at telda.net>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 2:00 PM
Subject: Re: MDMD: The Crime of Anonymity


> >
> > "Ludgate, then? whichever, 'twas Goal. It took me till I was lying among
> the
> > Rats and Vermin, upon the freezing edge of a future invisable, to
> understand
> > that my name had never been my own, -- rather belonging all this time,
to
> > the Authorities, who forbade me to change it, or withhold it..."
> >
>
> Judy:
> > If there was any doubt that one was reading Pynchon, it was dispelled
> here.
> > This to me wsa the most compelling segment of chapter one. Any thoughts
on
> > why the Revd' crime should be so agregious? That this crime - to this
> day -
> > shames his brother enough to pay him to stay away from Britain?
> >
> > And on another note...the Revd's knowledge that his name is not his own
> (his
> > name, that is, rather than a body part) drives him to insanity. Insanity
> > "cured" by a cruise.
> >
> > This passage brought to mind the Soviet asylums, but perhaps that's too
> much
> > of a strech.
> >
> > Comments?
>
> Indeed, this is from the same year "Mason & Dixon" was out:
>
> "The other day in the street I heard a city policeman in a police car,
> requesting over his loudspeaker that a civilian car blocking his way move
> aside and let him past, all the while addressing the driver of the car
> *personally, by name* (italics by P.). I was amazed at this, though people
I
> tried to share it with only shrugged, assuming that of course the driver's
> name (along with height, weight and date of birth) had been obtained from
> the Motor Vehicle Department via satellite, as soon as the offending car's
> license number had been tapped into the terminal--so what.
> (TP - Introduction to Jim Dodge's "Stone Junction," p. xi-xii, 1997)
>
> So what? It's not the height & weight but committed crimes etc. (DUI for
> example, or "politically subversive writer") instead that your friendly
cop
> gets to know about you when he checks the number of your car. The best
> result you can get here as a decent citizen is, of course, "zero entries"
or
> "negative."
>
> Some cabdrivers check the police frequencies occasionally and from
attending
> some "seances" I can tell that it's kind of fun so if you get the
> opportunity to . . . but I think it's mostly illegal and destroys your
faith
> in mankind.
>
> (omitted)
>
> Otto
>
>