ATDTDA (3) Dynamitic mania, 80-86

[Chris Broderick]

I realized how wrong & stupid the last sentence of my
previous post was a couple of seconds after I hit the
send button.  Of course (and particularly in this day
& age) most outlawry is non-violent (see allofmp3.com
for a good example).  I agree that your questions
about the implications behind violence in the name of
outlawry are relevant to AtD, and though I think he
sympathizes with Webb's intentions in his acts of
violence, I too don't think he is expressing some full
throated endorsement of Webb's actions.  Obviously,
Webb pays a price for his acts of violence, as does
the rest of his family.

-Chris

--- David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> You'll notice that I listed a graduated scale of
> outlawry plus
> violence.  Bombing is surely violence, but are
> innocents (and the
> question is raised as to whether this category is
> even valid) fair
> game?  Police?  Politicians?  Lots of judgement
> calls to make, no?  If
> one engages in outlawry and is then shot at, is it
> OK to shoot back?
> And if a bystander gets shot is that OK?  The
> violent aspect of
> outlawry is clearly a concern of Pynchon's in AtD,
> and it's by no
> means clearly endorsed (nor completely off-limits).
> 
> And I'd argue (despite Pynchon's listing Dillinger,
> Jesse James, Rob
> Roy) that most outlawry is non-violent, and
> committed in as much
> secrecy as possible.  The real focus of Pynchon's
> essay is about
> underground (and non-violent) outlawry.
> 
> David Morris
> 
> On 2/27/07, Chris Broderick
> <elsuperfantastico at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > Well, none of those outlaws that he mentions in
> the essay (Dillinger, Jesse James, Rob Roy) were
> exempt from acts of violence (whether on innocents
> or less than innocents is a judgement call).  And
> sure, there's a distinction between outlawry and
> violence, but the two are still quite connected. 
> The outlaws who don't engage in violence are the
> exception rather than the rule (MLK, Gandhi, ???)
> >
> >
> > --- David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > The thing is, outlawry is one thing.  Violence
> is quite another.  And violence likely to kill a
> "relatively" innocent bystander is even yet another.
>  Webb understood this, and thus chose to bomb
> objects valued by the Owners but not populated by
> anyone.  Outlawry resulting in death is pretty
> clearly sin.
> 



 
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