perspective detective

[Paul Mackin]

Hi Terrance--Don't know if McH and W would approve of my rather obvious
suggestion of Weissmann/Blicero as the material typonym for the 
Denial-of-death/Embrace-the-flame dichotomy. Seems to me B serves as well
here as Slothrop, say, in toppling the Them/Us dualism (which McH and W
include in their book). Though Weissmann may have a Nazi past isn't there
enough wiggle room for our purposes? He isn't Hitler or Himmler. I will
however modify my assertion that the similarities are not 
important; rather, the differences are AS IMPORTANT as the similarities.
And yes Them/Us is but a two dimensional  abstraction we tend to apply to
various human situations on an ad hoc basis and always from a position 
of weakness and vulnerability, a position that tends to shift over time 
so that total retraction or withdrawal from such accusations will likely
be necessary at the most inopportune time. Are not McH and W correct in
implying that Slothrop cannot with any permanence be classed as
either Them or Us?

			P.