V-2nd Dopplegangers

[rich]

On Thu, Aug 19, 2010 at 3:43 AM, Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> What Pynchon is talking about is not a particular conflict, but a deeper
> pattern. He is not saying the scenes in SW Africa is "about' Vietnam, or
> about the holocaust, but that the essential character of the conflict, the
> net effect of the conflict is not a narrow bit of  warfare between nations
> but the destruction of a culture and a way of being. The dragons/ gators/
> grendel man beasts being slain  are circular forces of nature and
> psychologically or mythically the ancient worldview sees them as eternal,
> and wisdom as being in harmonic or cooperative relation to them, where the
> "modern" logical  notion is that they are materials to be used , colonized,
> analyzed and shaped to human will. But for some reason persuasion is never
> enough. First the "primitive" mind must be destroyed.
>
>
> Somehow whenever those in charge of the war machine give up on the doctrine
> of winning hearts and minds through high explosives, quietly leave and stop
> demonizing  the "primitive" Afghan, Communist, Native .... those people
>  stop being the the epicenter of evil. Then , rather than look in the mirror
> we relocate the cause of he world's problems to a new place where bombs can
> be dropped.
____________
I get yr (and Pynchon's point) about exploitation and outright murder
of "primitives" so-called but that argument or explanation can only so
far.
without forgetting the brutalities of modern expansionist countries
let's not overemphasize how integrated and united these "primitives"
are/were. I think Pynchon gets all hung up on his romantics at times,
particularly w/r/t to native americans. that was a strong vibe in the
60s in leftist circles for sure.
so yes I lament wounded knee and as much as I do my lai but I can't
say ultimately that some huge and beautiful perfect society was laid
waste. I lament the loss of loved ones, familes, individuals, not
societies

and I do hope alice's son gets back home safe

rich