Notes From Underglass- Why Pynchon Matters

[vze422fs at verizon.net]

on 2/23/03 5:44 PM, prozak at anus.com at prozak at anus.com wrote:

> 
>>>> What makes Pynchon important as a novelist is precisely because of his
>>>> sense of political and ethical responsibility which balances and informs
>>>> his aesthetics, something Riefenstahl, for example, failed to accomplish.
>>> 
>>> I prefer to be open-minded about the political beliefs of others. In
>>> her view, she did the same.
>> 
>> I prefer not to be open-minded about the wholesale slaughter of people.
> 
> You're already taking a complex series of events and attempting to
> distill it to a linear, moral point of view.
> 
> To an external observer, this is no different than what Hitler did or
> Bush is doing.
> 
>> What you call open-minded, others might call "fellow traveller",
>> collaborationist, apologist, or card carrying member.
> 
> Not if they want to be taken credibly, since by my original words
> you've quoted above, my "open-mindedness" applies equally to the
> political beliefs of all people.
> 
I guess I'm not open-minded then. I can neither accept nor condone political
beliefs that embrace hatred, racism, disregard for human life, and the
slaughter of innocents. I cannot separate politics from morality. And yes,
because I see the world ultimately through my own eyes, I am imposing my
moral code on everyone else. So are you. So is everyone else. That's the
politics of experience.

Leni Riefenstahl made glowing propaganda films to glorify monsters. The
claim that she was not really a Nazi and did it just to further her career
pragmatically is cynical in the extreme and disingenuous. She had a choice.
She made the morally wrong one.

Just because I can understand the precipitating circumstances that could
lead someone or an entire nation to follow a Hitler or Saloth Sar, that does
not mean that I shrug my shoulders and say "Hey, that's their opinion. I'm
open-minded".

Peace
Joe