Murdered By Capitalism - TRP Support Notice

[Joseph T]

I thought my sarcasm would be a bit more obvious to the astute folks  
on the list. Truth be told, I may not be very good at waaaay sarcastic.

I was trying to characterize a tone that seems unwarranted, and I  
think I went over the top. I agree with Robin that Pynchon's  
political leanings are obvious and important.  I don't want to  
oversimplify.  ATD is more than a political primer, but ignoring the  
obvious seems to me a set-up to miss the more difficult layers and  
the overall arc.

A comparably  great american artist  broke a lot of ground by writing  
politically charged songs. In the long run Dylan made it clear that  
political activism was not his focus as an artist, but he continues  
to visit the theme. Pynchon has not so actively distanced himself  
from his political voice. If anything he continues to reinforce the  
importance of this topic so central to the human condition,  
particularly in essays and reviews.

Anyway, apologies, if that helps.   I think we'll get the most out of  
the list if we ignore what we consider of little worth , and argue  
passionately, persuasively, sarcastically, spoofily or goofily, nude  
or in full body armor , briefly or at length with ideas we think  
mistaken. But imo we make the list more worthwhile if we give those  
we disagree with the benefit  of an argument rather than a put down.  
Things can get pretty spitty otherwise.




On Mar 19, 2007, at 7:10 PM, Paul Mackin wrote:

>
> On Mar 19, 2007, at 1:43 PM, Ya Sam wrote:
>
>> I think Joseph T is being sarcastic here. Otherwise, the  
>> invitation 'to shut up' looks a bit flamebatish. And what's wrong  
>> with Robin sending all this info on George Bush being depicted as  
>> the governor of Jeshimon? Maybe it's obvious to American P- 
>> listers, but I, for example, although not being such an ignoramus,  
>> didn't know that during Bush's stint as the governor, in Texas  
>> there had been executed the greatest number of convicts, and I  
>> learned it from Robin's messages, so what's the harm? How about  
>> Italian P-listers accusing you of posting something about Venice  
>> that is painfully obvious to them?
>
> Fair enough.  The p-list is a diverse group and no one size fits  
> all. However consider the American Pynchon reader too. We live with  
> and are governed by our present run-amuck government day in and day  
> out. Just as Pynchon does and is too of course. So o o o , it  
> really seems a little bit silly to think anyone would find it  
> worthwhile pointing out a few obvious Bush jokes. But this is minor  
> thing and Robin has every right and maybe he was right to point  
> certain things out for the benefit of non-Americans.
> \
> But what's unbelievable to my way of thinking the idea that a  
> talent like Pynchon's would spend ten years writing a thousand page  
> primer for political novices on  the evils and problems of  
> capitalism. Moreover, if he'd actually wanted to do such a thing,   
> he could have made the problems and evils a lot worse than their  
> comic representation in AtD.
> \
>
>
>>
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