Vineland & Left is Right

[Teufelsdröckh]

Frenesi's attraction to uniforms (like her mother's) may is perhaps
related to Brock's insight that the "revolution" is really a cry for
order and authority. This is of course a self-serving rationalization,
but Pynchon I think explores it seriously, that rebellion in the USA,
from the founding revolution on, is for the most part not to overthrow
the system but to adjust it a little. Frenesi's parents weren't against
the movies, just the way they were getting screwed by them. Given a good
contract and the freedom to associate, they would readily have worked
for the Man.

In the sixties, young men were being drafted to fight an undeclared war
of dubious purpose and clear disaster, so for them there was no justice,
no authority they could believe in. When the war ended, so did the
revolution. Today, as Americans are subject to a court-selected
President and a recent ruling that police are free to arrest and hold in
jail someone for the smallest traffic violation, and we are told that
secret trade agreements with no public participation will further the
cause of democracy and liberty, well maybe the claim of authority is
breaking down again . . .

--
Teufelsdröckh