BEg2 Chapter 4: Pow! Pow!

[Mark Kohut]

YES!....I did NOT remember this at all when I wrote this and I EVEN read
this novel....

On Thu, Nov 18, 2021 at 3:45 PM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>>
>