VLVL The Wayvones; drugs

[Otto]

----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Monday, October 13, 2003 12:59 AM
Subject: Re: VLVL The Wayvones; drugs


> on 13/10/03 1:51 AM, Otto wrote:
>
> > There's an implicit value
> > judgement in the text about the way America honors big criminals and
> > prosecutes those you've called "petty thieves" in some other post.
>
> Where, or how, in the text is this judgement made, precisely?
>

Implicit means that it isn't made explicit. But, for example, you can see in
the difference between Zoyd's self-made home and the Wayvone's house, the
difference between the hippie-wedding and the Italian wedding.

> Ralph Sr proves himself to be an "ass grabber" (102.23-4, cf. 87.9, and NB
> that Isaiah is likewise probably a "coke snorter"). The only difference I
> can see between Ralph Sr and the others on that list of thieves and cons
on
> p. 87 is that he hasn't needed "*to seek*" (my emphasis) the "embrace and
> shelter" of the government like Frenesi and Flash have.
>

Well, even that isn't true given his good connections to the Justice
Department. Bribing officials isn't a kind "embrace and shelter"? And even
if this isn't said in the text, it's, like you say, an assumption, from
experience.

> >> Why shouldn't she be
> >> discussed?
> >>
> > Because her story comes later in the reading.
>
> DL's close friendship and previous business dealings with Ralph Sr are
> depicted in this chapter. I realise it doesn't fit with your
> cardboard-cutout conception of how the world works and you'd like to erase
> it from the text, but it's there.
>

You're absolutely wrong in your ad-hominem argument, it's like I said that I
hadn't focused on her yet. I haven't made up my mind yet on that feminist
ninja stuff, I'm still unsure how to read it.

> And the similarities between DL and Hector, both of them strongly opposed
to
> drugs and at various times believing themselves to be and acting the part
of
> some sort of vigilante-hero, are clear enough.
>
> >> "And how else is an honest cop like Hector once was going to be able to
find
> >> and prosecute the main players behind the drug cartels if not via the
> >> network of junkies and small-time dealers?"
> >
> > Hector was chasing after Zoyd, again and again.
>
> Yes, why *was* he trying to get information from Zoyd, and all those other
> small-time dopers and dealers like Van Meter and Scott Oof and Leon?
>

Yes, why -- the war on drugs, how it was/is lead is absurd while big
Mafia-bosses are honored members of society and the government itself is a
gang of "criminally insane" leading a murderous war in South-East Asia. This
is what the novel shows.

> > So I assumed you meant Zoyd
> > being part of that "network" you were referring to. Is there any textual
> > support for the allegation that Zoyd sold dope?
>
> It's not an allegation; it's an assumption, from experience. At the
Gordita
> Beach house there were "substance dealers and their go-betweens", as Zoyd
> admits (25.11-2). I'd find it pretty unlikely that Zoyd would only buy
stuff
> for personal use out of some moral or legal scruple, and refuse to sell
> partial deals on to his buddies. But whether or not he was or is a
> "small-time dealer" is "beside the point", as I wrote.
>
> The point is that Zoyd certainly was part of that network of users and
> dealers.

Nothing to object in this.

> And you still haven't answered the question: how else was Hector
> supposed to do his job?
>
> best

He should've quit and should've joined the legalize-movement instead of
trying to put small users and dealers behind bars. Only legalization is able
to break the big drug cartels.

Otto