NP? HOLT UNCENSORED on the new McCarthyism

[Doug Millison]

Given Pynchon's attention to McCarthyism in Vineland, perhaps we might
consider it one of his "hobby-horses".  In this and many other ways the US
seems to be reverting to the Cold War climate of militarism, suppression of
dissent, and conformity against which Pynchon reacted (as he explains in
the into to _Slow Learner_) as a writer. I'd say the climate appears to be
growing worse than the Cold War period, given the greater reach of the
media and the indoctirination of so many Gen Xer's and the following
generation under Ronald Reagan (another of Pynchon's "hobby-horses").



From: Pat Holt <pat at holtuncensored.com>
Subject: Holt Uncensored #292
Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 04:40:15 +0000

HOLT UNCENSORED

Contents for Holt Uncensored #292
Friday, January 11, 2002

KINGSOLVER NAILS WALL STREET JOURNAL
LETTERS

------

KINGSOLVER NAILS WALL STREET JOURNAL

Lost in the shuffle of holiday madness but thank heaven not forgotten is
Barbara Kingsolver's furious response to a Wall Street Journal column
that erroneously quoted something Kingsolver WROTE (not said) - and then
called for a national boycott of her books by "patriotic" booksellers!

The subject of the WSJ's accusations is an op-ed piece Kingsolver wrote
for the San Francisco Chronicle in November called "And Our Flag Was
Still There."

The article describes her young daughter's announcement one morning that
everybody at school is supposed to wear red, white and blue the
following day to honor "all the people that died when the airplanes hit
the buildings."

"Why not wear black, then?" Kingsolver asks. "Why the colors of the flag
- what does that mean?"

"It means we're a country," her daughter says. "Just all people
together."

Kingsolver admits to feeling patriotic in her own way. She describes
bursting into "tears of simultaneous pride and grief" while watching her
older daughter play "Stars & Stripes Forever" with the school orchestra.
And she doesn't mind saying "I would like to feel comforted and thrilled
by the sight of Old Glory."

But having seen the flag "waved over the sound of saber-rattling too
many times for my comfort," and feeling increasingly concerned about the
"war mongers," "loudmouths" and bullies in the pulpit (Jerry Falwell et
al) talk about patriotism after 9/11, she also confesses to a certain
"dread that my sweet child was being dragged to the newly patriotic
cause of wreaking death in the wake of death."

Is it possible, she asks, that "the flag these hoodlum-Americans are
waving stands for intimidation, censorship, violence, bigotry, sexism,
homophobia, and shoving the Constitution through a paper shredder? Whom
shall we call terrorists here? Outsiders can destroy airplanes and
buildings, but it is only we, the people, who have the power to demolish
our own ideals."

These are tough words, stated in Kingsolver's clear and impassioned way,
though apparently not clear enough to Gregg Easterbrook, the writer of
the Wall Street Journal piece that turned Kingsolver's words around.
Somehow or other Easterbrook got the idea, and said so, that Kingsolver
believed that "the American flag 'stands for intimidation, censorship,
violence, bigotry," etc.

Appalled that she was so sorely misquoted, Kingsolver sat down and wrote
an "Open Letter to Independent Booksellers of America," blessedly posted
by the American Booksellers Association at
http://news.bookweb.org/news/72.html .

There she states unequivocally that in her essay she "declared that I DO
NOT believe my flag stands for these things," she writes. Moreover, her
essay "closes by citing the values I believe our flag should and does
stand for: freedom, courage, generosity and human kindness."

Well, a misquote is a misquote which, once corrected, is the end of the
matter. But the Wall Street Journal piece went much, much farther than
simply misunderstanding Kingsolver's position.

The WSJ article also, she writes, "called for a national boycott on my
books, specifically suggesting that patriotic booksellers should remove
my books from your shelves."

Holy cow, call Fahrenheit 451. "I know most of you are wiser than this,
but I've actually received indirect word that some booksellers have done
so," she adds. "I have asked the Journal to publish a retraction, but
inflammatory rumors spread much more rapidly than the truth."

Perhaps the most moving part of Kingsolver's letter is the partnership
she believes she shares with independent booksellers, not only in the
spreading of good literature but also in believing "the American ideals
of civil liberties and human rights."

She turns to independent booksellers, then, with a personal appeal: "I
would also like to reassure you," she writes, "that I would never betray
your faith in me or the enormous power you've given to my words...

"If I lose the ability to reach people with my words, other writers will
surely suffer the same fate, at a time when we especially need the
greatest diversity of published voices. I ask you to help maintain the
dignity and freedom of public debate in these frightening times."

You, too. Wall Street Journal, and say! Ain't it your JOB to "maintain
the dignity and freedom of public debate"?


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