GR Father Rapier's sermon

[Terrance]

jbor wrote:
> 
>     "To believe each of Them *will* personally die is also to believe that
>     Their system will die - that some chance of renewal, some
>     dialectic, is still operating in History. To affirm Their mortality
>     is to affirm Return. I have been pointing out certain obstacles in the
>     way of Return. . . . " It sounds like a disclaimer, and the priest
>     sounds afraid. (540)
> 
> Who are "They" supposed to be? A band of evil atheists who rule the planet?

"The Jesuits taught me to examine things for second meanings
  and deeper connections...This implies they were thinking
  target all along." 

                                          Delillo, Underworld


What the Jesuit Father Rapier is talking about is Death. 
Who does he speak for? Where is his church? His congregation? His Flock? 

Who are THEY? 

Father Rapier's capitalized They: 

Economically, They are the  Kartell, Firm, Syndicate, Management

Politically,  They are  Empire, Corporate State, Ruling Elite-the
  degenerate aristocracy. 


Theologically, They are The Elect


  There is a universal conspiracy in GR. They appear under
  every imaginable manifestation of power. Ultimately, all of
  these are subordinated to the "the needs of technology
 a
  conspiracy between human beings and techniques
these needs
  are understood only by the Political They or the "Ruling
   Elite." 


  THE ECONOMIC: The Kartel, The Syndicate, The Firm, The
  Management

  In economic terms, They are "the growing organic Kartel",
  the "IG" that Smarargd says is "ours" but which Herr
  Rathenau, from the expanded, though not perfect view, on 
  the "other side" says is "only another illusion." 

  Rathenau seems to know more about who They are, but he can't
  tell. He can only tell what the questions are: "You must ask
  two questions. First, what is the real nature of synthesis?
  And then: what is the real nature of control?" [GR.166-167]

  Pointsman, the profane Pavlovian Knight, knows that the
  "agents of the Syndicate
 wait in the central chamber" of
  the labyrinth, that "its only a job they have
." 

  Funding the War and the Laboratory is expensive. Men and
  women can be very valuable assets to The Firm.  When the
  Reverend Dr. Paul de la Nuit argues that the MMPI only
  "tests for whether a man will be a good or bad soldier," and
  not any "human values," Pointsman replies, 
  "Soldiers are much in demand these days, Reverened Doctor."
  [GR.81]

  Of course,  The Firm is particularly interested in any
  soldiers that possess special talents or "gifts." 

I just love they way Pirate Prentice ends up in "Hell." 

 Pirate's gift for "getting inside the fantasies of others
is a gift the
Firm
  finds uncommonly useful."  



They control the funding of Their projects with the War that never ends, 

Although Pirate saves Europe from the Balkan Armageddon, the
  Firm only allows him "tiny homeopathic doses of peace" and
  he does not save Europe from World War II. The Firm uses men
  or women to get what They want. 

The Firm's or Their control over the narrative is worth considering,