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Q&A QUESTIONS HERE (Patreon)

Published:
2021-05-20 10:01:26
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Gonna attempt a bonus Q&A to make up for the missed week.  You've got, eh, 12 hours or so to ask about something erudite, like the difference between hippos and rhinos (horn, face, etc.).

Comments

bernard31

not sure if this is worth of an on air response or not, but I'm planning to give gravity's rainbow a go this summer. I've saved your GR episodes for then, but was curious how you think it would be best to listen to those. should i save them all for after i finish? would it make sense to listen to them concurrently with my reading? and then any further suggested supplementary reading? general advice? much love

Tom

You’ve mentioned before you dislike Harold Bloom and what he represents but Bloom loves Pynchon and Gravity’s Rainbow in particular. What do you think the conventional reading of GR gets wrong? Is Pynchon’s mastery of language so obvious that even purported dumb-dumbs like Bloom can still greatly appreciate his work?

Forest

Do you see a connection between music theory and Kabbalah?

cwen

Have you listened to Matt Christman's latest Cushblog on death? What do you think? Also, in the latest MediaRoots with Robbie Martin and PD Newman, Mr. Newman shares a psychedelic experience at the end where he beheld a void where he met 2 snake like creatures who showed him they were one and outside of their bodies they couldn't be destroyed. I think the message is that we're all a connected, single being. What are your thoughts on the nature of this reality and death?

Will Camfield

In your expert opinion as a historian and musician, did Bush do 311?

cwen

Any plans to eventually do an analysis of Bolaño’s work similar to the Gravity’s Rainbow/Pynchon series? 2666 in particular would be great to hear more perspective on.

Jevon Clement

Do you have any hope for the future of humankind? Will we make even an attempt to seriously tackle climate change or are we headed for Thunderdome?

Harold Niver

I’ve been wondering about these Covid vaccinations... I know the right has their conspiracy theories, but anyone familiar with MK Ultra knows that people have been experimented on in the not-so distant past. Is it possible that they’re testing mind-control chemicals on us? I got the shot, to protect my kids, but I have doubts.

Noah Barlow

I'm making my way through the backlog and am on episode 126, so I'm sorry if you've addressed this before: Do you have any thoughts on population control? I've been having an argument with my mom where she thinks people shouldn't have children because there are too many people and we're destroying the environment, but I think this is misguided because of how many people actually have control of resources and production and it kind of sounds like eugenics to me. Is there truth to both of these ideas or neither?

Chris Ryan

I don’t think I’ve heard you mention Lem on the show yet, I was wondering if you have any thoughts on his utter distaste for the academy, particularly in Solaris with his brilliant send-up of the 400 years of Earthling scholarship about the unfathomable living planet. Anyhroro

Chris Ryan

Oh forget it posting on my phone is impossible but you get the idea. Anthropomorphizing that which barely pays any mind to human beings, except in that it can assemble them out of the ether at will.

Noah Barlow

Oh also, in the past you've talked about how we're obsessed with "telling stories," but that we don't need so many stories. What is the difference between a "story" and a book like Gravity's Rainbow, and what makes it better than a story? I want to make something like it but I'm not sure what to watch out for

Francis

Solidarity with you, brother. I'm ex-academic, and God knows that did enough to fuck my head up, and I don't really have preexisting mental infirmity. I'd love to hear more about your objections to Hegelian dialectics. Also, what's the closest thing to Pavement that you do actually like?

Nic Bodiford

Would you consider doing a "history of Fidel Castro" episode/series? Or do you have any books/podcasts that you'd recommend on this subject?

David Rossing

Fairly new here and respect the way you put things. Have you read W.G Sebald? Think you’d appreciate his literary-historical interweaving

Robert Cherkowski

Dear MJ, do you got any thoughts on James Ellroy's UNDERWORLD USA-Trilogy? Greetings from Germany Keep up the good fight (Kopf hoch und weiter so)

Colin W.

Are you aware of Karen Wetmore's book Surviving Evil? She was experimented on by MKULTRA doctors at Vermont State Hospital over a period of 10 years. In her book she uncovers a MKULTRA subproject called MKCOTTON(which concerns implants/hypnotic programming) and makes a compelling case that the CIA killed thousands of patients at VSH in "terminal experiments" before MKULTRA officially shut down in 1973. If it's possible, do you think you could get a interview with her?

IN

I want to understand when the fall of the USSR actually took place. Who was Gorbechev working for, when did it all come apart. I feel like every time I try to understand the timeline, I hit road blocks.

Peter MGunn

Is Steinbeck trash and only famous, as Bunuel put it, because of American guns? And what is to be made of him turning CIA in the 50s?

Jonah Manning

A Frank Zappa ep would be cool. Hope ur feeling better

Emmet O'Shea Hayden

Love all your work. Just gonna throw some things out that I feel like you haven’t spoken too much about, and you can ignore as much as you please: Thoughts on Vollman? What about Cormac McCarthy? I feel like the judge is prime for the death/corner universe. Also, I’m maybe one of the five people here who would love to hear what you have to say about basketball/jazz. Lastly: who’s gonna win the Finals this year? Call it friendo.

Bob Dabolina

Hey there! Just curious about your recommendations for getting the best sound out of a nashville tele and a fender princeton reverb amp. Talking about the ASMR-ish crispyness of a Dire Straits type of sound. Any suggestions for pedals, etc. etc.?

Alex P

Would love to hear a Rand Corporation rant. Take it in any direction you like. Pain is a cruel little bitch. Hope you feel better soon.

n

Hi MJ, I think that you mentioned once that the existentialist philosophers are trash. I'm interested in how you process and contextualize the events and topics that you present on this show. Maybe the title of the program is some hint to the answer. And I'm not saying the existentialist where right or wrong but how do we, individually or collectively deal with these topics that offer nothing but an absence of a meaningful future. Second question, You talked about getting access to your File, via FOIA. I've been interested the idea that everyone has a file, due to the mass data collection, and that I would have a file. Would someone how has had a standard life have file? Would I be flagged as suspicious for asking to see my own file?

Ben

I'm finishing up the collected works of Mark Fisher, and while I've enjoyed it and he's re-framed some things for me, I don't understand why he doesn't really investigate the intelligence agencies as prime movers. He vaguely nods to 'reality technicians' but spends so much effort on Labour v. Tories and the degradation of their pop culture and state media, without a framework that emphasizes the importance of the Anglo-American alliances w/r/t intel/banking as the true forces behind the gutting of the working class and the financialization of both economies (and to a lesser, but clarifying extent, Canada's.) I would also love your thoughts on the 'City of London' as an entity. Thank you, hope you're feeling better. I would give you a kidney or half a liver if need be.

Pear Is A Patsy

Hey MJ, I was wondering about how much of Dulles’ ghost is still imbued in the modern intelligence apparatus and what their current ethos is. Dulles’ own personal goals, his narcissism and his paranoia were encoded into the CIA, but how has the CIA evolved without a formative/domineering individual making decisions on a personal whim? Is it just more of a faceless entity doing dirty work for an even deeper state or are they still world-shapers with their own agenda? What the FUCK is that agenda/end game for these people? I’m a recent listener and this podcast has been very elucidating and given me so many avenues to study, so I just want to thank you for that.

Guy Incognito

I'm new to the pod, so apologies of this has come up before, but I want to know your top 3 (or 5) Bowie songs and albums. I loved the Station to Station episodes. It's my favorite Bowie album and you helped me appreciate it even more.

catman

Would you say the murder of Lincoln was similar to JFK? Basically a southern based intelligence network killing a yankee president and then everyone pretending it was a lone gunman..

catman

Do you think the first WTC bombing attempt was the same network of conspirators as on 9/11?

Brian John Carville

I was listening to the Iran Contra episodes. You briefly touched on El Mozote. I was a peace corps volunteer in the department of Morazan. I would love to hear you do an episode on El Salvador and the masacre of El Mozote and the US involvement. I don’t think many people know the story.

Titivilis

I have this beef with Ezra Pound, since I think his aversion to metaphysical poetry left him without anything except the idea of poetry itself to build his opus around. However, he does apparently come around to something non-circular in some of the Cantos, particularly with his opposition to usury. Perhaps you've discussed this elsewhere, but some talk of what of Pound's politics (we can at least agree the debt system that drives the economy is trash) might be salvagable would be interesting. Also, if you were inclined, some talk about the Cantos as a project of epic poetry and to what extent you would say it succeeds and fails.

Skeleton Key

I know you're understandably private about your health, and I don't mean to pry or fish for details, but I'd be so gratified if the clarity and vibrancy of thought in your broadcast would be able to find its equal in body and spirit. I guess I want to know if any part of you is hopeful about feeling better more of the time, and specifically if you've ever explored any trauma-related treatments, in light of what we are learning in recent days about the ripple effects trauma can have on the body and psyche.

Jack Patterson

Can you do an episode on David Bowie’s Low or diamond dogs please?

Chazaq Llinas

It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on 2666 and Savage Detectives, in general, what do you think Bolaño was up to? Thinking too about The Third Reich.

Prawn Star Man

Thoughts on Paul De Man? The Nazi affiliation is sus, and his exodus to the Ivys (his ordination following tendentious-at-best reasoning involving a non-existent article on Henri Bergson) just after the war screams intelligence asset to me. I’ve never like his contributions to deconstruction so I might be biased — not saying we can point to this stuff to trash theoretical contributions — but intelligence investment in 20th century philosophy are well known enough at this point (Encounter mag and the Paris Review come to mind) to warrant comment.

Thomas Dylan Sharpe

Apologies if you've already covered this but what're your thoughts on Tom O'Neil's book Chaos and Charles Manson potentially being a CIA asset/informant or MK Ultra victim? Also I was watching the new Netflix Son of Sam series and saw that David Berkowitz had some formative LSD experiences in the military. Could he be an MK Ultra victim too?

John Plass

Just ramble about whatever you’ve been thinking about and I’ll be pleased as punch

Justin Hastings

Thoughts on Bob Dylan? Been fascinated with him ever since he released his JFK song

Nick Greer

thoughts on zappa as guitarist, composer, spokesperson, man, etc.

Samantha Geovjian Clarke

very curious what you think is going on with the fucking post office doing the kind of sophisticated social media surveillance work you expect from the NSA. am i missing something obvious here? usually i can at least hazard a guess about what's going on, even if it's far-fetched, when intelligence agencies do weird stuff, but this one's thoroughly stumped me. i can't seem to wrap my brain around how this major surveillance and intelligence program became the responsibility of the federal agency that's made up of guys in shorts who bring you birthday cards from your nana https://news.yahoo.com/facial-recognition-fake-identities-and-digital-surveillance-tools-inside-the-post-offices-covert-internet-operations-program-214234762.html

W

Late but, do you think big homo using 5G rays and Moderna vaccines will make everyone gay?

A B C D

Very late here...217th comment... probably you will never reach here... But here I go anyways..... I like the way your are able to see and explain the patterns, --- "broader narrative" as you call it. An imprint that might fade from our collective memory but remains foundational like cosmic microwave background. I am from India. Britishers ruled us, and did what colonizers do. We had a bloody partition... We have this Kashmir issue.... We had emergency imposed during Indira Gandhi.... The economy opened in 1990s... We had Babri mosque demolition..... We had Gujarat massacre...We have now Modi... We have bad bad Covid,.... people are dying everywhere... I lost 2 of my friends last week, 12 close relatives since April.... I am at loss....MJ, what is the "broader narrative" here, who is the "fourth reich" here!

Brendan Garcia

You mentioned that Juarez, circa 2012-2013, is the logical endpoint of capitalism. I wonder if you could expand on that a little?

Guck Buck

trying to learn more about the “spider network” in Africa during the 20th century - I know about the Dag Hammarskjöld affair but not much else - what’s good to read?

Lloyd Potter

Ever think about doing an episode or two on James Joyce and Ulysses?

Jared Busch

Thoughts on the book “case closed” regarding jfk?

Peter Evans

What do you think about Ted Kaczynski. I start reading him and i'm like yes, yes yes YES noooo Makes many great points then goes off on some right wing BS.

Maren

Been doing a lot of research on this and would love some shit about american abstract art and the cia using it as a weapon during the Cold War.

Leroy Winter

I have a question regarding Pynchon. What do you make of the pedophilia in Gravity’s Rainbow? I found it deeply disturbing and had a really hard time trying to figure out why it’s even in the book, it feels pretty unnecessary. The rest of the novel was absolutely brilliant and moving but I found the pedo passages to disrupt the book.