Bertie "Mad Dog' Russell (from AtD)

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

On 26.05.2015 15:29, John Bailey wrote:

> 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).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dogs_and_Englishmen_%28song%29

 > The song is especially known for the line "Mad dogs and Englishmen go 
out in the midday sun" with which most verses begin and end. <

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2YvYiWtovM

"Is this Noel Coward or some shit?" (Gravity's Rainbow, p. 709)


> 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
>
>

-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l