VV the WSC (Re: Benny's job

[jbor]

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>From: <lycidas2 at earthlink.net>
>

> Example, Fergus, is described as an "Irish American Jew."
> Other characters are also described in like fashion. So,
> while agree that P may be progressive, post-colonial if you
> like, I don't understand your textual support. Some are
> identified ethnically, or by Religion, some are not.

OK, that's one I missed, although the way it is written in the text without
commas like a name badge and at very first mention of the character --
"Fergus Mixolydian the Irish Armenian Jew and universal man laid claim to
being ... " -- makes me think that it's a "line" that Fergus uses on new
acquaintances (for its shock value perhaps?) rather than how he is engaged
with -- or tagged by -- the rest of the Crew or indeed by the narrator. But
ethnic tagging is noticeably absent for Fu (Chinese-American?), Raoul
(Hispanic?), Melvin (African-American?), indeed, all of the group *within
the contours of the Crew* itself, which was my point.

I'm struck by this because even in the mainstream media here the ethnic
tagging of "non-whites" (eg "a Vietnamese woman was assaulted", "an
Aboriginal assailant" etc versus "a teenage youth was detained" when it is a
"white" individual) was standard practice until quite recently.

best