Er-sonate

[Aaron Holms]

"s~Z" wrote:

> 
> >>>I trust Dave and Doug will not call the cops.<<<
> 
> Doug has been avoiding bait for quite some time now.

Raskolnikov's crime was planned, calculated, and
Utilitarian. He knew that he could commit the perfect
crime because he was convinced that revenge, need, or
viciousness did not motivate him. What motivated him?
What motivated him was his devotion to his high priest,
Thomas Pynchon. What motivated him was the Universal
Good of all Mankind. There is no bait to take. No 
returning to the scene of the crime.  Ordinary
criminals break down at the moment of the crime,
leaving all sorts of clues scattered about because they
inwardly accept the justice and validity of the law
they are breaking. The irrational forces of their
conscience interfere with the calculated and rational
lucidity of their action. But, he was convinced that
nothing of the sort would happen to him because he knew
that his so-called crime was not a crime at all. Reason
(reason beyond the prudent advice of a family attorney
and mental health care professionals) had persuaded him
that the amount of harm he would do to his victims was
far out-weighed by the amount of good it would do.
Hence his irrational conscience would not trouble and
distort his reason, and he would not lose control of
his nerves and make blunders. Where was the Chorus?
Where was the conscience of the list? Where was the
law? The Principles? Where was the code of conduct? Was
Raskolnikov responsible? In the 1960s, when our
Raskolnikov learned his radicalism, we find a shift,
often discussed here and obviously distorted by our
Raskolnikov (including his reading of Pynchon's unambiguous
statement about the New Left). This shift was not
unlike the one that took place in Russia in the 1860s.
It was shoft from the ideals of Utopian Socialism, with
its semi-religious glorification of the people, to that
of an embittered elitism, which stressed the right of a
superior individual to act independently for the
welfare of humanity. Our Raskolnikov is also a
Nihilist. While he presents himself as a Utopian
Socialist, one who favors peaceful propaganda,
conversion to the cause by reason and persuasion, he is
convinced that it is the obligation of the superior
individual to strike a decisive blow on his own. He is
not alone. Others here are likewise undeniably genuine
left-wing radical nihilists. Like Doug, they exhibit
the utmost contempt for the people on whose behalf they
wish to change the world. Now, these folks are generous
and self-sacrificing. Consider how Doug sent money to a
charity set up to provide psychological counseling to
victims of 9-11. Why did he need to inform the list of
his gift? It was like committing a crime and calling
the cops on the victims. 
Oh, Raskolnikov is moved by love, altruism, the desire
to help the mentally ill, the drunkards, the wife
beaters, the neo-Nazis, the Fascists. Our fellow
P-lister (i.e., Morris) is more precious than any
abstract notion, any voice that come to this forum is
worth more than some future ideal of what this List
should be according to Doug or anyone else. When Doug
threatened to call the police and the INS he silenced
quite a few voiced here. His own included. Not taking
the bait? What can he say? Nothing! It is easy to kill
an old women. It is easy to frighten away the people
you don't like. It doesn't take much physical energy.
But the spiritual energy is sapped. Nothing happens
after the crime. NOTHING. Nothingness overwhelms the
crime. The Idiot cannot take the bait. 

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