Notes From Underglass- Why Pynchon Matters

[prozak at anus.com]

> >>>> 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. 

You're right. Not only that, but you've contradicted being part of 
any philosophy that prides itself on that open-mindedness.

> 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.

I'm not imposing any moral code on others: I'm merely asking them 
about their own, and pointing out where it is inconsistent.

I think Pynchon was hinting along these lines as well.

> She made the morally wrong one.

Please post the formula for determining morally right choices from 
morally wrong ones.

> 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".

I'm a relativist :)

-- 
Backup Rider of the Apocalypse
www.anus.com/metal/
DEATH AND BLACK METAL