Bartleby

[John Bailey]

>From: Paul Mackin <paul.mackin at verizon.net>
>Date: Wed, 15 May 2002 11:03:49 -0400
>
>Seems like Jerry Rubin said "Do it!" Don't remember precisely what we
>were 'sposed to do. Spike the Chicago water system with LSD,  maybe? Get
>our heads bashed in? Good revolutionaries make good ad men or good
>stockbrokers. Especially if they are lucky enough to be assigned a judge
>as studid and inept as Judge Hoffman. You can't BUY that qualify of
>occupatonal training.
>
>It's my sense that "JUST do it" is of more recent provenance and belongs
>in a different context entirely. It definitely implies that you must do
>something even if you would PREFER not to. Like stop using drugs or
>having underaged sex. That't not quite it however. Maybe it will come to 
>me.
>
>
>P.
>

Might it be the sense that this supposedly spontaneous, self-empowering 
slogan of liberation is anything but first-person? It's not 'I'm JUST DOING 
IT!' which would be a far more accurate catchphrase for a modern Bartleby. 
It's an imperative directed to the listener who, implicitly, is questioning 
or putting forward reasons *not* to do 'it'. It's hard to argue with the 
logic of JDI. (except Nike usually wrote it in capitals, which means the 
addition of two brushstrokes and a dab creates a 'JUST DONT').

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