Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

In reply to Roderick T. Long. Of course the threats that some of the Arab nationalists made against gays and drug users would hardly have endeared them to Burroughs. When he imagined his ideal worldwide third-world revolution it was always highly homo…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. When the Hell’s Angels were planning to attack a peace march at Berkeley, Ginsberg met with the Hell’s Angels leaders and, well, he didn’t give them flowers exactly, but he charmed them with his fearlessn…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. Also, if there was a violent riot outside his building, Burroughs wouldn’t stay in his room and hope not to be annoyed; he would rush out into the street, hoping to see some bloodshed. Whereas bloodshed was the last …

In reply to Irfan Khawaja. I don’t think that describes Burroughs though. His politics were a complicated and not always consistent mixture of right and left, but “sensible liberal” accommodation to the established power structure wa…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. It didn’t strike me as inapposite, actually. LikeLike

In reply to Roderick T. Long. I don’t think Burroughs’s view is that hard to make out. Many people on the American Left are sympathetic to the plight of African Americans or Native Americans, even to the point of sympathizing with, say, rio…

In reply to Roderick T. Long. Well, I initially read your Dylan comment too quickly and so thought the controversy was over whether his song was pro- or anti-Israel. Not so much. So my Burroughs comment was less apposite than I’d thought. LikeL…

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It’s like trying to pin William S. Burroughs down on his views on Arab resistance to French rule in North Africa.  “I am definitely anti the Arab Nationalists and pro-French …..  You can’t imagine what a pain in the ass these Nationalists a…

[…] Committee could do it, if ACT UP could do it, if the ANC could do it, if the shebab (and the women) of the Palestinian intifadas could do it, if Bobby Sands and Khader Adnan and Ahed Tamimi could do […] LikeLike