Bertie "Mad Dog' Russell (from AtD)

[John Bailey]

I read that far. In many corners of the former British empire the
epithet 'mad dog' is affectionately given, ie to the roughest member
of a football team who nevertheless gets the job done. Or the loudest
guy in the pub who keeps everyone entertained. You might not trust him
to babysit but you're not at all suggesting he be put down. (Gendered
pronouns intentional - I've never heard 'mad dog' applied to anyone
but men and consider the equivalent terms for women).

The bio excerpts sound fascinating, Mark. What's it called?

On Tue, May 26, 2015 at 10:09 PM, Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:
> Did we know:
>
> WW1 changed him utterly, utterly, sez biographer Ray Monk quoting him.
> "he felt like Faust before (1910) then after (1914) he met
> Mephistopheles.  Russell said it made him aware that most people have
> a profpound unhappiness that led their "instinctual processes" to
> emerge in "destructive rages".
>
> Gave up mathematics for freelance journalism on social, political
> books and issues.
>
> Had visited China and in a series of articles and a book wrote about
> China--[the East--MK] as a civilization Europe could look to learn
> from.---
>  'The Chinese are gentle, urbane, seeking only justice and freedom.
> They have a civilization superior to ours an all that makes for human
> happiness...I think they are the only people in the world who quite
> genuinely believe that wisdom is more precious than rubies".---
> "Can Chinese virtues be preserved? Or must China, in order to survive,
> acquire, instead, the vices which make for success, and cause misery
> to others only?"
>
> He knew China had to industrialize but asked openly: "Could the
> benefits of science, technology and industry be given to a society
> without it also importing the aggressive militarism that characterizes
> the Western nations?"
>
> He referred to "the Powers [of leading countries] " meaning They in
> effect in other articles. Popular articles. Solution: for citizens to
> doubt politicians and priests by adopting a skeptical, scientific
> outlook.
> --"The scientific temper is capable of regenerating mankind and
> providing an issue for all our troubles. The results of science, in
> the form of mechanism, poison gas and the Yellow Press, bid fair to
> lead to the total downfall of our civilization."
>
> For Russell, 'scientific' psychology meant behaviorism, particularly
> the work of John B. Watson...by whose principles he tried to raise his
> son. Watson showed the successful creation in an eleven month old,
> "Little Albert', a fear of a white rat. (to whom he initially reached
> out in curiosity) So, among other things, Bertie let the baby cry--all
> they wanted was attention---"Never let the child think that a
> necessary normal action, such as eating, which ought to be a pleasure,
> is something that you desire, and that you want it to do it to please
> you. If you do, the child soon perceives that it has acquired a new
> source of power, and expects to be coaxed into actions which it ought
> to perform spontaneously"..!!
>
> Ray Monk: "in view of what happened to John.....'but, of course, the
> links between cause and effect are very difficult to
> determine"...."you want cause & effect"? --GR.
>
> "Capitalism, he believed, bred the kind of aggressive rivalry that
> made war inevitable." Hence his conversion to Socialism. "As peace
> between civilized countries is a necessary precondition of the
> survival of civilization, it follows that capitalism and civilization
> are incompatible. Given the world dominance of America, it further
> follows that a 'complete collapse of civilization' could be averted
> only if "the American belief in capitalism can be shaken."
>
> So, today's question for both of you who have read this far is: the
> phrase "Mad Dog' is ironically a 'positive' one in AtD, right? Or,
> given Know-Nothing-for Sureism, also an ambiguous positive?
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l