Pynchon - a product of his times redux

[Paul Mackin]

>From Jean:

 and the pat response to homosexuality (they 
     have a nurse "do" the guy whose going to off himself because he's gay, 
     and, hey, presto, he's cured!) are real, and are IMHO most definitely 
     reflections of the prevailing attitude at the time, even among the 
     couterculture. 

Good example, but I can't help noting that there is a less-than-ideal  "prevailing attitude" at BOTH ends of the time line? 

Doesn't our present day discomfort at this scene say as much about
the still lingering bad conscience of the 90s as it does about the thoughtlessness of the 60s?

Society was wrong to classify homosexuality as a psychosis for which one might reasonably expect a "cure." As a result we now must wince at the very hint of that cruel past misconception, even in a situation as zany as the one cited.

Of course the 90s are an improvement. But in a more-perfect world, where differences were truly accepted and respected, such caution would be unneccessary. Some version of the old joke might even once again seem to  be OK. Maybe in ten or twenty years from now .

But in a more-perfect world, who would need jokes?

					P.