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?

20 February 2009 at 08:30

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.

20 February 2009 at 10:46

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