VLVL2 (1) Zoyd's WORK

[jbor]

Well, no, Prairie works in the pizza place, Isaiah works as a muso, Zoyd
works when he collects and sells crayfish, does roofing jobs -- even all
those prospective schemes and "hustles", if they ever came off, are what I'd
call work. But claiming disability benefits is not "work" in the same way as
these other paid *jobs* are. It's a welfare payment made to someone who,
supposedly, does *not* work.

Taking a dive through a bar window in drag once a year is something *Zoyd*
came up with to satisfy the welfare criteria. The government didn't specify
this particular manifestation of craziness, and as Don noted Zoyd has even
come to think of himself as an "artiste" (I'm tempted to say prima donna).
He's the one dissing hippies with his little song and dance as much as
anyone else is, *if* anyone else is. And, even if that was the intention, he
has become a minor celebrity because of his act, has actually earnt the
*respect* of the younger generation.

So it's not so simply a case of saying "Zoyd works for the government" or
that Reagan is discrediting the 60s, imo. It's much more ambivalent than
that. And, for the most part, Pynchon seems to be playing it for laughs.

best


on 16/7/03 10:55 AM, Richard Fiero wrote:

> I will argue that Vineland occurs in an era of free enterprise
> brought about partly by the Reagan/Thatcher revolution of
> Pareto Optimality within a perverse notion of Hayekian
> self-organizing aggregates. Only Blood and Vato have real work
> by jbor's definition and by mine. Zoyd is a roofer and plays
> tunes. Both of these endeavors have social value. Every
> character in Vineland is an opportunist. None is a Fascist or a
> Hippie. Vond is no Fascist although Frenesi may like to see
> that tendency -- is attracted to it.
> Everything's cooking on a back burner.
> One really needs to find a useful scam to thrive within perverse institutions.
> 
> jbor wrote:
>> But isn't Zoyd falsely claiming these "mental-disability" benefits? He isn't
>> mentally unfit for work at all. I understand the point you are making when
>> you say that Zoyd "works" for the government, but "work" in this sense isn't
>> synonymous with employment. Zoyd plays along with a corrupt bureaucratic
>> system to get his fortnightly dole cheque.
>> 
>> So, in a way, hasn't Zoyd been abusing the welfare system to the detriment
>> of those who honestly are mentally-unfit to work? Particularly in the
>> context of the cutbacks you mention, and that we see in the novel later on.
>> It seems to me that there is an intrinsic ambivalence in this opening
>> scenario depicting how Zoyd exploits the government welfare system.
>> 
>> best
>> 
>> 
>> on 15/7/03 10:22 PM, Terrance wrote:
>> 
>>> OK, but Zoyd works for the government.
>>> 
>>> More importantly, disability and unemployment are **not** the same
>>> thing.
>>> 
>>> Like unemployment insurance, Workers pay into an insurance fund and if
>>> they become disabled, they can collect a benefit. The government merely
>>> collects and disburses the money -- much like a private insurance
>>> company would.
>>> 
>>> A little history:
>>> 
>>> Disability was not part of the the 1935 SS Act, but is a program that
>>> began in  the 1950's. It was one of LBJ's babies. The great deal maker
>>> got it passed, but making great deals requires compromise.
>>> 
>>> Reagan wanted to gut it.
>>> 
>>> The Congress didn't.
>>> 
>>> Reagan used his **presidential powers**  to gut it. Putting thousands
>>> upon thousands of mentally disabled people out on streets.
>>> 
>>> 
>>> http://www.ragged-edge-mag.com/0302/0302ft5.html
>>> 
>