VLVL (6) Working for the Man

[Terrance]

> 
> Without the US presence in Vietnam there would have been no Long Binh jail
> in which to incarcerate military personnel: I think that's pretty obvious.

Yes, Sir. 


> It follows that the US presence in Vietnam actively produced the crimes for
> which those individuals were locked up (they weren't locked up for the
> greater crime of waging war on the Vietnamese people, of course). Having
> done no research on this occasion, my shaky memory tells me something about
> Long Binh being considered a measure of the poor morale of US troops in
> Vietnam.

Yes, Sir. 


> 
> What's interesting is that the list of so-called "independent contractors"
> on 87 begins here, with a state crime, the occupation of Vietnam, being
> masked by the crimes of individuals.

It works the other way round too. The crimes of individuals are masked
by the crimes of the state. Soldiers, not only Military Police who beat
up and even kill their own guys out having too many beers, but mavericks
who ignore the chain of command and raid villages, and soldiers who kill
their COs .... and guys like Vato and Blood ... and ...it's the daisy
chain. 


> 
> To put it another way, the juxtaposition of 'small' to 'big' crimes is,
> structurally one key to understanding the chapter as a whole.

The juxtaposition of the The Whole Sick Crew  and the SW African
Colonial Genocide.  

Pynchon plays this over and over again. 
But Benny doesn't learn a thing. And Zoyd isn't saved. 



> What's interesting is reading what's on the page.

We're trying to that. And we're doing a pretty good job. 

Always interesting to read your posts. But I think it's very unfair to
complain that  Robert is  re-writing the book. We can't post the entire
chapter, we have to select passages and sentences.