Critical Mass

[David Morris]

It's been a long time since I've read this section, but my reading of it way
back in the last GRGR didn't take Ftaher Rapier as a spokesman in THEIR employ.
 Just the opposite.  And this hell isn't a "Counterforce Convention."  It is a
place where the Counterforce has to face its own guilt for being a part of
Their system.

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0004&msg=45439&sort=date

From: "David Morris" <fqmorris@[omitted]> 
To: pynchon-l@[omitted] 
Subject: GRGR(24) - Hell 
Date: Tue, 18 Apr 2000 13:59:13 -0500 


A Jesuit priest preaching "Critical Mass" is pretty funny. Pynchon-puns.  It 
is the point of No Return, and we might have already passed it.

The "Devil's Advocate" (more fun) presents two possible realities "for our 
consideration" (remember the Twilight Zone?):

1.  The One They want us to believe:  That we are _all_ under the shadow of 
Death.  That because They also will _personally_ die, so will Their system.  
Thus Return is inevitable.

2.  The One They want kept secret:  That "Critical Mass" has been reached: A 
point where They have transcended Death, possibly by feeding off _Our_ 
deaths, like vampires.

In this second model the D.A. proposes that _We_ become Their Death; that  
"maybe They can still die from violence" (as opposed to "in their sleep, 
eventually" or "not at all"), or, if we can't kill them with violence, "at 
least we can withhold from Them our fear of Death," and so maybe _that_ 
deprivation will kill Them.

The D.A. is desperate for a way out of the present state, for a Return which 
he knows is unlikely.  But at least the heart of his argument is for an 
ACTIVE OPPOSITION, instead of a passive belief in an eventual righting of 
things.

"Beaverboard Row" is a place of advocacy, right?  "OIL FIRMS....SELF 
DEFENSE....HERESY..." (583.16)  It seems to me that each of these committees 
advocates a way of coping with the General Condition: Preterition.  All of 
these committees are essentially ameliorating devices, ways of existing, 
continuing with the present, inescapable, fate.  All EXCEPT the DEVIL'S 
ADVOCATE, "The only office not physically touching the others on Beaverboard 
Row, intentionally set apart, is a shack [a shanty made of refuse]." 
(539.10)

Only the D.A. proposes a path apart from amelioration.  Forlorn as it is, 
this is the home of the Counterforce, and its (most likely futile) advice is 
to FIGHT! KILL! GO DOWN FIGHTING!

David Morris



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