GRAYZONE, that black rag: Can't cut & paste

[David Morris]

I wonder what political events Pynchon’s might be paying attention to right
now. Surely the author of Gravity‘s Rainbow has some opinion about the
latest “Super Power” war-fever dream of Putin.  This period of time seems
pivotal to many. God forbid reality interrupt discussion of whatever
Pynchon topics we weren’t talking about anyway…

On Mon, Mar 20, 2023 at 1:51 PM Dee Kilroy <deadendkid76 at gmail.com> wrote:

> This speaks directly to my seventeen year experience of P-list:
>
> "When I started participating in the Pynchon List, the written work of
> Pynchon was the prime topic. Politial implications of the work could be
> exceptionally dicey but there was a balance of voices. Over the years many
> have left and it is my sense that a primary reason is the ever growing
> drift into topics that are not connected to Pynchon’s writing. Later group
> readings began to peter out unfinished. Off topic arguments pushed people
> away."
>
> Fandoms are frustrating, and in the context of the modern
> internet-for-everyone, frequently toxic.  The last three times I have
> joined up-- during a read / research phase, usually, tied directly to an
> annual read of one of my favorite Pynchon novels --I have lasted an average
> of three months before the noise-to-signal ratio overwhelms my compulsion
> to clean my inbox.  I am tired of opening my mail to noxious grumbling from
> internet authorities-slash-cranks about how wicked & inhuman neocons /
> neolibs are.  I am not here for polemics.  I am here for Pynchon.
>
> Everyone on this list, fan & cranks, KNOWS the secret chiefs of this world
> are malevolent putzes.  In P-list's present iteration, most of the missives
> I've received on this subject are not informative or inspiring.  Before,
> they were tedious; now that things have yet again slalomed into slanging
> territory, it's all below boorish.
>
> I am unsubscribing if this persists and it shall be a permanent departure.
> The cranks sha'n't care, and why should they?  I haven't contributed
> anything they're interested in hearing.  Which principally seems to be
> echoes.  Echoes.  Echoes.
>
> The last time I left, it was because a troll (and it truly doesn't matter
> who; naming names & blaming blame does sweet F.A. in a flamewar) decided I
> was worth attacking.  I believe it was for relating a personal anecdote of
> being a teenage runaway, which got a real sweet, snide "Everyone has a
> story" from one of the shit-stirrers.  Why did it get personal?  Search
> me.  It just did.  So I left.  Stayed away so long, when I came back,
> P-list was on a whole new server & running new software.
>
> The next time I send an unsubscribe command it will be because there is
> nothing left in P-list worth preserving.
>
> Sincerely, cranks?  If I wanted to know what Josh Marshall was typing
> today, I would not have stopped browsing Talking Points Memo over a damned
> decade ago.  Schtum with the copypasta.
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>