SLPAD - 28

[Mark Kohut]

It’s his interjecting the phrase “including the power to do something about
it,” that makes this brief passage shine.

Yes!......and shows the history is personal perspective....

On Tue, Mar 21, 2023 at 1:55 AM Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
wrote:

> He returns to the subject of “apocalyptic showdown” -
>
> “ Except for that succession of the criminally insane who have enjoyed
> power since 1945, including the power to do something about it, most of the
> rest of us poor sheep have always been stuck with simple, standard fear.”
>
> Once in awhile there’s a Pynchon passage which takes an unmistakable
> stance. (Like the one about “that useful substance”)
>
> We’re focused on how his evolving attitudes affected the stories, but this
> offhanded characterization of the power elite is strikingly candid. So,
> yeah to that. I just backspaced over a whole screed I wrote in order to
> elaborate on it - I’d be surprised if any P-lister couldn’t write a better
> one, for one thing. Also, like, light one candle, eh?
>
> It’s his interjecting the phrase “including the power to do something about
> it,” that makes this brief passage shine.
> There are passages in Machiavelli, aren’t there, about how all the
> loathsome machinations are in service to stable governance? Like Hobbes and
> his fucking Leviathan state, he’s got a point.
> You can “self-organize,” Small is beautiful,” and “think globally, act
> locally” all you want, but there are levers of power & we should support
> those “lever brothers, and sisters” who are marginally less insane,
> sometimes even much less - Joe Biden sometimes shares a lovely lucid moment
> & deserves a bit of applause…
>
> Anyhoo, that’s the sidelight I think the Intro means to be shining there.
> Thotz?
>
>
> I’m not a huge fan of Sting (though who hasn’t indulged in a singalong or
> two with “Roxanne”?)
>
> But his song “Russians” always moves me:
> https://youtu.be/wHylQRVN2Qs
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>