IVIV IV & Playboy article

[Robin Landseadel]

On Nov 1, 2009, at 6:50 AM, Mark Kohut wrote:

> For the sake of discussion, for the sake of my long-windedness  
> today, the clarification I, at least, get when others respond,  I  
> want to jump in here and just say:
>
> I, too, think there is a deep distinct strand of cultural  
> "conservatism" in TRP's oeuvre. Modernity has killed.........aspects  
> of the human we should have conserved, to say it abstractly. To say  
> it least.

That's semantic Humpty-Dumpty-ism. While it's true that the  
Conservative/Neo-Con "Official Story" concerns the opposition to the  
encroachment of government control, the reality is that's just a cover  
story. What the so-called "Conservatives" did and still do is increase  
militarism and corporate control. It's Three-Card-Monte played on a  
global scale. Using the term "Conservative" muddies the waters.  
"Conservationist" or "Gaian" or "Emersonian" or nostalgia for "Halcyon  
Days" might be a better fit.  At a certain juncture one realizes that  
the intent of the word "Conservative" has been hijacked by the  
plutocrats. Pynchon was explicit about that in "Against the Day":

	He was trying to pass on what he thought they should know,
	when he had a minute, though there was never the time. "Here.
	The most precious thing I own." He took his union card from his
	wallet and showed them, one by one. "These words right here"-
	pointing to the slogan on the back of the card is what it all
	comes down to, you won't hear it in school, maybe the
	Gettysburg Address, Declaration of Independence and so forth,
	but if you learn nothing else, learn this by heart, what it says
	here—'Labor produces all wealth. Wealth belongs to the
	producer thereof.' Straight talk. No doubletalking you like the
	plutes do, 'cause with them what you always have to be
	listening for is the opposite of what they say. 'Freedom,' then's
	the time to watch your back in particular-start telling you how
	free you are, somethin's up, next thing you know the gates have
	slammed shut and there's the Captain givin you them looks.
	'Reform'? More new snouts at the trough. 'Compassion' means
	the population of starving, homeless, and dead is about to take
	another jump. So forth. Why, you could write a whole foreign
	phrase book just on what Republicans have to say."
	AtD, 93

> A...and, I will suggest, perhaps even more incorrectly, since  
> discussing TRPs "politics" is such a No-No and No-Win Mug's  
> game......[feel like a mug today. Been working hard saving a library  
> system. We seem to have won, so what's a little mugging?}
>
> That, perhaps, we might see TRP's "politics' as existing somewhere  
> where the ideologies of the Right and Left meet:  where  
> Libertarianism meets (non-violent) Anarchism.......Live Free or  
> Die....Don't Tread on Me......Who will collect the garbage if  
> anarchy rules? Why, we will, say the self-organizing  
> people............
>
> Later,
>
> mark

. . . though one of the dramatic high-points of Inherent Vice is the  
scene where Doc whacks a couple of Golden Fang operatives. Non-violent  
my ass.

Again, look at the thread heading—I'll re-post what Doug Millson said:

	Whether Pynchon intended the novel as such will remain
	debatable, but Robin's program of finding  TRP's autobiography
	in there seems viable, after re-reading the Playboy article.

So re-read the Jules Siegel article. I seriously cannot think of a  
reason why Playboy would [or could] publish a piece with so many  
potentially libelous factoids as Siegel produces without there being  
some truth in it. Where's the lawsuit? Where's the retraction?

	"What are you always so afraid of?" I asked him. "Don't you
	understand that what you have written will get you out of almost
	anything you might get yourself into?" There was no answer,
	but looking into his face, I could see his thought as plainly as if
	has spoken out loud. "You think that it is what you have written
	that they will want to get you for", I said.

http://waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l&month=0910&msg=144051&sort=date