Re: Sentimentality & Cruelty (fwd)

Marcus Smith (marcus@BETA.LOYNO.EDU)
Tue, 8 Apr 1997 19:11:07 -0500

The discussion of the "Tenderness leads to the gas chambers" remark has
wandered rather far afield. Al Gore and the role of TV is interessting,
but hasn't much to do, IMHO, with what Percy was aiming at.

First, the phrase above "TLTTGC" is the literary equivalent of a TV sound
bite. What does "tenderness" mean? What does Percy mean by "tenderness"?
There are numerous moments of "tenderness" in his novels--and they don't
lead to the gas chambers.

Several people proposed some definition or example of corrupt tenderness.
Here's my example: Kevorkian (according to news reports; cites available
upon request) regularly weeps when he reviews videotapes of his clients
checking out of the hotel--Kevorkian being, of course, the bell hop with
the singing telegram.

Percy's epigraph is catchy--but it wasn't just (corrupt) tenderness that
lead to the gas chambers. It was also (maybe most of all) bureaucratic
"tough mindedness" (probably expressed in the German equivalent of the
impersonal [passive] voice), organizational efficiency arguments, and all
the authoritarian crapola of the contemporary corporate culture that led
to the gas chambers. That leads today to wide-scale death. It is not
"tenderness" that guides tobacco executives, but bottom-line profits.

I do not know why we should all reflect awe and wonder at a one-liner that
any of us would question if a freshman dished it up in the draft of an
exam.

Marcus Smith
Department of English
Loyola University
New Orleans, Louisiana 70118
Office: 504-865-2481; Fax 504-866-1966