BEg2 Chapter 4: Pow! Pow!

[David Morris]

Orson Scott Card wrote a pretty good sci-fi novel about that in 1985 called
“Ender’s Game.”  Made it into a movie in 2014.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game

*Ender's Game* is a 1985 military science fiction
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_science_fiction> novel by
American author Orson Scott Card
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card>. Set at an unspecified
date in Earth's future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind after two
conflicts with the Formics, an insectoid
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insectoid> alien species
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraterrestrial_life> they dub the "
buggers
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game_(novel_series)#Formics>".
In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, children, including the
novel's protagonist, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender_Wiggin>, are trained from a very
young age by putting them through increasingly difficult games, including
some in zero gravity <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weightlessness>,
where Ender's tactical <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_tactics>
genius <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genius> is revealed.
Ender's Game
[image: Cover shows a futuristic airplane landing on a lighted runway.]
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ender%27s_game_cover_ISBN_0312932081.jpg>
1985 first edition (hardcover)

On Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 2:00 PM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> As someone in the Read wrote: In sanitized online games, where blowing
> people away is bloodless. Drone training
> for the next generation.
>
> On Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 1:53 PM Joseph Tracy <brook7 at sover.net> wrote:
>
> > I also enjoyed the humor the 1st couple times around.  Still can see it,
> > even enjoy it that way, understand what is being said here; I just feel
> > there is something else that is disturbing in these joke fantasies of
> > eliminating everyone who annoys you, and that fits into a pattern and
> > direction that really is dangerous.   This  congressman Gosar publishing
> a
> > video cartoon of killing AOC.  I assume there are a lot of republicans
> who
> > think it's funny and if she was actually shot would make the classic
> > liberal argument that fantasies have nothing to do with actual behavior.
> > Not so sure myself.  After 911 this same kind of fantasy, some humor
> based,
> > will be pointed at anyone who ‘looks’ middle eastern, including sikhs not
> > remotely musim or middle eastern, and innocent people will be murdered,
> > both by the state with large public consent and by crazed individuals
> with
> > fantasies of protecting america. Cancel culture is a slightly more subtle
> > variation, usually without any attempt at humor. I see Pynchon walking a
> > fine line in many areas including using his audience's human appetites
> for
> > humor, porn, caricature to get us to think twice  about those appetites
> and
> > where they can lead. So not denying the enjoyability of fringe humor by
> any
> > means,  just pesonally finding another level not that far below the
> > surface.
> >
> >
> > > On Nov 18, 2021, at 9:00 AM, Allen Ruch <quail at shipwrecklibrary.com>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > I just wanted to add that some of Chapter 4 is pretty funny. While I am
> > not saying that Pynchon isn’t engaging in deeper satire, there’s also a
> lot
> > of humor here, too. For instance, the videogame. There’s not a lot of New
> > Yorkers who haven’t fantasized about eliminating the kinds of people who
> > serve as “targets” in the game. To me, it’s a laugh-out-loud moment:
> > >
> > > ++++++++++
> > >
> > > “Come on,” sez Otis, “let’s just cruise around.” Off they go on a tour
> > of the inexhaustible galleries of New York annoyance, zapping loudmouths
> on
> > cellular phones, morally self-elevated bicycle riders, moms wheeling
> twins
> > old enough to walk lounging in twin strollers, “One behind the other, we
> > let them off with a warning, but not this one, look, side by side so
> nobody
> > can get past? forget it.” Pow! Pow! The twins go flying, all smiles,
> above
> > New York and into the Kiddy Bin. Passersby are largely oblivious to the
> > sudden disappearances except for Christers, who think it’s the Rapture.
> > “Guys,” Maxine astonished, “I had no idea— Wait, what’s this?” She has
> > spotted a line jumper at a bus stop. Nobody paying attention. H&Kwoman to
> > the rescue! “All right, how do I do this?” Otis is happy to instruct, and
> > before you can say “Be more considerate,” the pushy bitch has been
> > despatched and her children dragged to safety.
> > >
> > > “Way to go Mom, that’s a thousand points.”
> > >
> > > +++++++++++
> > >
> > > I mean, this shit is funny, because it’s genuine. (“Morally
> > self-elevated bicycle riders!”) Sure, talk about desensitization, drone
> > strike training, dehumanizing young men so they can kill; fine—but this
> is
> > also pure Mel Brooks here, and anyone who lives in a big city understands
> > “Pow! Pow!”
> > >
> > > —Quail, big fan of “Death Race 2000” (1975)
> > > --
> > > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
> >
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>