a euphemism... Real Scars

[Paul Mackin]

On 11/2/2012 6:19 AM, Matthew Cissell wrote:
> "It reads like.." to whom? "it is as if Zinn wrote it for his graphic novel", maybe for some. But thanks for trying to tell us how to read it.
>
>   Actually I think TP made the effort to reflect the kind of language that was used by robber baron types.   “And while the law of competition may be sometimes hard for the individual, it is best for the race because it ensures the survival of the fittest in every department." (A. Carnegie - a good example of his social Darwinism that TP parodies in  the section mentioned.)    Or, "I would rather earn 1% off a 100 people's effort than 100% of my own" (J.D Rockafeller). Reading some of the speeches of the turn of the century industrial giants will confirm this.
>
> Maybe instead of H. Zinn you should think of Gustavus Myers "A History of the Great American Fortunes". Scarsdale's rhetoric may sound over the top to you but it does reflect the sense of entitlement and disdain for others that theses robber barons (old and new) maintain.


Doesn't it seem quite incongruous for a capitalist of that era to 
pretend to give a fig about the improvement of the race?

In other words, are we meant to accept the passage at face value?

Just wondering.

P




ciao mc otis ps I hope all you east coasters are well. 
________________________________ From: alice wellintown 
<alicewellintown at gmail.com> To: pynchon -l <pynchon-l at waste.org> Sent: 
Thursday, November 1, 2012 2:17 AM Subject: Re: a euphemism for P's 
poorest prose: warm excrement flowing from a pathetic puppet's mouth No, 
come on...it reads like a Simpsons character, like MB, owner of the Nuke 
plant, no, not even, more like the sycophantic Smithers, who, like MM in 
Disney's Fantasia is an apprentice sorcerer...like I said, it is as if 
Zinn wrote it for his graphic novel...we know that the character here is 
saying something he would never say, not in an address to anyone, not 
even to a mirror or to the devil. Greed is Good! Oh, for a clip of Wall 
Street! Or...a song from Finian's Rainbow...a Blicero with a strap on 
cunt. Jeez, Tom, maybe this one is vice for Thanatoids who bend the neck 
out of their bodies to push thru to page 1000 On Wednesday, October 31, 
2012, Michael Bailey  wrote: i think - heck, i'll take a chance and say 
I'm pretty sure - that
>> everything vibe says in his speech was said sincerely by some robber
>> baron or right-wing ideologue - and is being echoed today by
>> Thanatoids under the same aegis
>>