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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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Music Lane It's all about the music, dude! Sit down, relax and listen to some tunes. |
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In Reply to: Let's put that on hold--but BB is still a fascist work of art, whether novella or opera--Right or Wrong? posted by John Marks on July 15, 2015 at 09:55:32:
How about this scenario:BB rejected the idea of mutiny, not because he was so devoted to the system, but because he wanted to spare the lives of the crew members he loved. He knew that the system was incapable of rendering true justice. And he knew that the system would hunt down any mutinous crew member until the system's version of "justice" was finally served. BB sacrificed himself for the sake of his "natural" blue-collared co-workers. I doubt that he would have thought to sacrifice himself for the sake of some "unnatural" bureaucratic system, or for any of those dirty white-collared seabirds who were in control of it.
The story of "Billy Budd, Sailor" serves to highlight differences between the workings of "natural law" and the workings of "law and order" as administered by bloated and corrupt bureaucratic systems and the bottom-feeders who hide within them. How could the Soviets have missed that point?
At the end, Melville invokes the vision of sea worms twisting around BB's dead and sunken body.
Captain Vere probably would have "steered the court toward a death sentence" in this case regardless of his personal feelings. Necessarily perhaps, there was almost zero tolerance for severe infractions on board a ship like that in those days. If one hopes to maintain proper discipline on a ship full of wild men one must crack down on severe infractions harshly and consistently - much more so than if the very same infraction had occurred on land. So, once again, BB = Victim of the Machine.
Edits: 07/15/15 07/15/15 07/15/15 07/15/15 07/15/15 07/15/15 07/16/15 08/01/15
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Follow Ups
- RE: BB is still a fascist work of art? - genungo 11:45:10 07/15/15 (0)
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