History's hiccup - Princip Returns?

[matthew cissell]

Howdy folks,

Hey, anybody in here? Sure is quiet. Smells 'bout the same though. Has
everybody packed up and moved over to Fauxbook, sorry, Metiocre? Me? I'm
more of a muta kinda guy. (Wha'? Got no Muta? Jump on yo scoota and go find
the Man with Muggles!)

Are we still down about the soft coup? Yes, it is sickening to be trapped
on a bigger version of the Titanic, and watching the derelict Capt. order
the Band to play on. We're not that much better off over here in Europe.
Fascism is having quite the heyday. And some fools act surprised. Didn't
they understand Albert when he said that the rats would return?

I get it that back in August you were busy so you might have missed the
story about the British tech entrepreneur (Mike Lynch) and his boat getting
hit by a cyclone off the coast of Italy, killing him and 5 others. But
shouldn't that send up a little *V.* resonance alert? I know, very
different boats and occupants.

On the other hand, the health care CEO being gunned down in NY last week
should have prompted the AtD fans to take note. I'm not here to write one
of those, "I don't condone violence, but..." mini-rants. Let's just take a
minute to appreciate the echo (or is it a rhyme? Certainly not repetition,
unless it is the repetition - avec différance - of the repressed repetition
of the name of the Father as the petit objet of the Nomic Cloud of the
tomorrow that is always not quite becoming now....) Did I just go Theory?
Sorry, just goes to show that electro-shock and the rest can't make all the
bad stuff go away.

Assuming the guy they have (Luigi) is the culprit - he was carrying a copy
of his manifesto? I can see conspiracy threads spinning - it does seem a
push to make him out as Princip or even Sacco and Vanzetti. He comes from a
wealthy family, went to a private school, worked as a data engineer... that
doesn't sound like anarchist material. He apparently gave a positive review
to Teddy K's manifesto, but then again so would I if I posted things like
that. Now the media can do its shitshow and experts can speculate about
moitve. TLC, Showtime and The History Channel will brawl (lawyers and other
weapons to be employed) to get the rights. And maybe he'll "tell it all" in
an exclusive with Geraldo Rivera. He'll explain that after an
ayahuasca ceremony he came to see the golden wheel he was on inside the
greater cage of humanity and came to hate the Misery Machine and its
plutocrat architects, and decided to send one down to Hades in an attempt
to redeem his soul and even the karmic balance.

Maybe I should focus on the book, keep it literary. If you did some basic
Shakespeare study, the profesor (or book) probably talked about how Hamlet
is waiting; he has to be sure that his Uncle is guilty and his Uncle has to
die knowing why he is being killed, that's why Hamlet doesn't kill him at
prayer: "am I then revenged/ To take him in the purging of his soul,/
When he is fit and seasoned for his passage?"
In other words, violence, if it must be done, must be done right, but even
then there is a price to pay. Hamlet may avenge his father's death but it
will seal his own fate. Notice that in his work, Pynchon is also very
careful of who employs deadly violence and why. The attempted assaination
of Scarsdale Vibe reflects the historical reality of anarchists and others
trying to kill people in positions of power, but it also serves as a
cautionary tale. If you pick up a gun, they will happily respond with bombs
or worse. I'm not familiar enough with the work of various scholars that
have focused on the use of violence by protagonists in Pynchon's books so I
can't recommend a related essay. In my opinion, AtD doesn't really advocate
violence toward the Capital Class. However, it does seem to indicate that
it is a very real scenario for those that have foreclosed on the happiness,
opportunities and future of the downtrodden and unborn.

And with all that in mind, James wood should write a statement of apology.
Scarsdale Vibe is fairly realistic,  albeit exaggerated no doubt as one
would expect in satire. Vibe shot an old lady. Trump said he could shoot
somebody. Vibe has no taste. (This is a wonderful expression of how
Economic Capital can be used to acquire the objects of taste - i.e. a
painting, etc. - but that same EC cannot be converted into Cultural Capital
[good taste as defined by legitimization conferred by institutions, people,
etc.] in the way that Cultural Capital can be converted into EC.) In the
70's Pynchon wrote a book that used WWII as a vehicle to criticize the war
(and more) being waged at that time. Is it a stretch to think that his 2006
publication used the Belle Epoque period to address many of the ills that
have been growing and ongoing into the present and foreseeable future? (If
you have read Picketty's "Capital in the 21st Century", that will make more
sense.) Sadly, though, James Wood is simply too blind to see his own error
and too arrogant to recognize it once it has been pointed out to him.

Fire the bastards - indeed.

We will now return to our regular programming. Now up, The Lawrence Welk
Show with Special Guest Barbara Mandell

ciao
mc otis