Not P but Moby-Dick (11) ramblings

[Joseph Tracy]

By the way p-listers , you can get a kindle version of Moby Dick for free. I always feel the want of some context for a given passage.

 I mosied through Chapter 32 where the narrator describes species of whales and insists that a whale is a fish despite breathing air through lungs, mostly because of the Jona and the whale story, in which the whale is called a fish. It was written at a time that admits the taxonomic dispute of this idea. There is something in ithat implied argument that is very familiar and continues to this day with Americans arguing over science in a politicized or culturally centered way . So easy to add an authoritarian voice to the pursuit of accurate understanding, rather than the reasoning of hard won expertise and experimental data.  

If you have not heard Laurie Anderson riffing on Moby Dick  it is amazing, both musical and literate and often hilarious though also often deeply sad and moving. One of our great artists, inspired by another great artist.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWGRr8Zb6mw <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWGRr8Zb6mw>