Skip to main content

Clevinger was dead. That was the basic flaw in his philosophy.


Sometimes you get a very dull morning, and the lights on 'the shed' are on and seem brighter than they should be. This was one of those mornings.

Rather than bore you with my writing this morning, I want to revisit a moment early on in one of my all time favourite reads, Catch-22 by Joseph Heller. It concerns an argument between Yossarian (the hero of the tale), and Clevinger (one of the hero's foils), about the risks invloved in daylight bombing missions:
“They’re trying to kill me,” Yossarian told him calmly.

”No one’s trying to kill you,” Clevinger cried.

”Then why are they shooting at me?” Yossarian asked.

”They’re shooting at everyone,” Clevinger answered. “They’re trying to kill everyone.”

”And what difference does that make?”

I'm with Yossarian here, and think that the point translates well into other spheres of human interaction.

That's not to say that I dislike Clevinger though. I've always liked him as a character. That said, as a similarly pragmatic fellow, I think that Yossarian is spot on when he observes:
"As always occurred when he quarreled over principles in which he believed passionately, he would end up gasping furiously for air and blinking back bitter tears of conviction. There were many principles in which Clevinger believed passionately. He was crazy."

I know a lot of people like Clevinger. I think they're crazy too, most of the time.

Comments

KL said…
NOw the question is: is it good to be so crazy? That is, is it good to be have such strong convictions/beliefs regarding something? Or is good to be flexible? I guess it will vary from situation to situation. If you believe strongly that drug is bad to your health, that is a good one to believe. But then no one is bothered about such simple situations. In the more complex world, which one is better - stronger conviction or flexibility?
Kris McCracken said…
KL, as someone who proudly describes myself as a pragmatist, I think that you always need to keep an open mind about things. That said, I'm quite dogmatic about some things (eg: a sound ethical approach, the importance of professional standards; treating people equally etc), but I don’t think that this is too crazy.

The crazy comes into it when you assume a position, and solidify that position that any evidence to the contrary is regularly dismissed out of hand.

Popular posts from this blog

Mad as hell

So there I was, arm hooked up to the machine, watching my plasma swirl away into a bag while the morning news dribbled across the screen like a bad fever dream. And what were they showing? A "riot" in Melbourne, allegedly. The sort of riot where the real thugs wear body armour, carry pepper spray and look like they just walked off the set of RoboCop. The people they were beating? A ragtag crew of teenagers and old hippies—probably fresh out of a drum circle, still smelling of patchouli. But sure, let's call it a riot. Now, here's where it really gets good. I mentioned this spectacle to a few people later, thinking maybe they'd share my outrage or, at the very least, give a damn. But no. What did I get instead? A smirk, a chuckle, and—oh, the pièce de résistance—"You should really just let it go." Let it go? Yeah, let me uncork a nice, overpriced cup of coffee, sit back with my legs crossed, and soak in the latest reality TV trash. Why bother caring when ...

Hold me now, oh hold me now, until this hour has gone around. And I'm gone on the rising tide, to face Van Dieman's Land

Theme Thursday again, and this one is rather easy. I am Tasmanian, you see, and aside from being all around general geniuses - as I have amply described previously - we are also very familiar with the concept of WATER. Tasmania is the ONLY island state of an ISLAND continent. That means, we're surrounded by WATER. That should help explain why I take so many photographs of water . Tasmania was for a long time the place where the British (an island race terrified of water) sent their poor people most vile and horrid criminals. The sort of folk who would face the stark choice of a death sentence , or transportation to the other end of the world. Their catalogue of crimes is horrifying : stealing bread assault stealing gentlemen's handkerchiefs drunken assault being poor affray ladies being overly friendly with gentlemen for money hitting people having a drink and a laugh public drunkenness being Irish Fenian terrorist activities being Catholic religious subversion. ...

Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.

This is the moon. Have I mentioned how much I adore the zoom on my camera? It's Theme Thursday you see, and after last week's limp effort, I have been thinking about how I might redeem myself. Then I clicked on the topic and discover that it was BUTTON. We've been hearing a lot about the moon in the past couple of weeks. Apparently some fellas went up there and played golf and what-not forty-odd years ago. The desire to get to the moon, however, was not simply about enhancing opportunities for Meg and Mog titles and skirting local planning by-laws in the construction of new and innovative golf courses. No, all of your Sputniks , "One small steps" and freeze dried ice cream was about one thing , and one thing only : MAD Now, I don't mean mad in terms of "bloke breaks record for number of scorpions he can get up his bum", no I mean MAD as in Mutual assured destruction . When I was a young man you see, there was a lot of talk about the type of m...