re Re: enough rand...

[pynchonoid]

In my haste to get to a meeting earlier, I left out
another important group of Pynchon-L subscribers: 
those long-time participants who have gotten to know
each other as individuals,  by email (on- and
offlist), telephone, snail mail, and in person.  For
many of us in this group, Pynchon-L is a place where
we can meet to talk about Pynchon and Pynchon-related
topics, and sometimes about things on our minds that
we just want to share with each other.  I consider
this community element an important aspect of
Pynchon-L, even when those threads move in
non-Pynchon-related directions.  This has been true
for all of the 6 years I've participated here.  It's
also true that it's difficult to maintain because of
the heated emotions that accompany some of the
disagreements (mea culpa, with the rest of you), as
well as because of the seemingly determined efforts on
the part of a few individuals (who post under many
names) to destroy it.


This community was important (to some of us, at least)
in the wake of September 11, 2001, as some of us
gravitated to Pynchon-L as a place to talk about the
tragic events of that day. I was shocked to see that
discussion become a forum for hate speech and
warmongering.  (I understand that others have
different perceptions of the September 11-related
conversations that began here -- as they began in
virtually every email and Web forum that I know
anything about -- and especially about how and why
that turned into such an unpleasant experience for so
many people.  I respect your right to disagree on this
or any other subject.)


I also know that the political stuff that I post, with
or without direct Pynchon relevance, is welcomed by
quite a few people -- a number far larger than the
number of frequent P-list poters -- because I hear
from you offlist, encouraging me to continue to share
what I find on the Web that I think they'll be
interested in.  I also know that some of you detest
this practice -- if that's you, feel free to filter me
out, or use your DELETE key.  There's a very small
group of hate-speech specialists who have stronger
feelings than that, and I don't really care what they
think about it -- this small group attacks as a pack
one target after another, and is best ignored, imo.



--- pynchonoid <pynchonoid at yahoo.com> wrote:
> --- davemarc <davemarc at panix.com> wrote:
> > 
> > It's probably safe to say that most subscribers
> sign
> > up on this list
> > expecting a Pynchon discussion.  
> 
> That may be true of some newcomers, but I wonder how
> many are attracted by this, at the Pynchon-L site:
> 
> About Pynchon-L
> 
> Welcome aboard, gee, it's a fabulous or-gy
> That you just dropped in on, my friend--
> We can't recall just how it start-ted,
> But there's only one way it can end!
> The behaviour is bestial, hardly Marie-Celestial,
> But you'll fit right in with the crowd,
> If you jettison all of those prob-lems,
> And keep it hysterically loud!
> http://waste.org/pynchon-l/
> 
> 
> "The behaviour is bestial" -- a good description of
> a
> lot of what gets posted here by, borrowing
> davemarc's
> phrase, "a certain number" of "the totality of
> subscribers", the same group that manages to keep
> pumping the persiflage no matter what (here's a nice
>
example,http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0210&msg=71967&sort=date,
> that combines just about all of one unenviable
> P-lister's many obsessions).  On the rare occasions
> when that crowd choose to focus on something other
> than me, they have no problem finding other,
> non-Pynchon-related topics. You could look it up and
> see what happens when I back away from the
> discussion.
> 
> There have always been at least two ways that people
> use Pynchon-l:  as a forum for a discussion closely
> focused on Pynchon's works (people who take
> seriously
> the suggestion that the discussion range "from
> Pynchon
> apocrypha through light discussion of our favourite
> passages, to litcrit as heavy as you want") to those
> who make of it "a fabulous or-gy ..... bestial ....
> hysterically loud."  Several of the longtime
> participants move from one camp to the next, while a
> few manage to stay in one or the other.  
> 
> I filter the  voices I find most obnoxious from my
> email box, and have discovered what a pleasant
> change
> it is to enjoy Pynchon-L without that drumbeat of
> hate
> and obscenity.  I doubt that the people responsible
> for the posts I don't particularly enjoy will go
> away,
> so it's nice to have a way to avoid what they have
> to
> say.  I also have a DELETE key and know how to use
> it.
> 
> 
> -Doug
>


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