Nixon in Pynchon WAS Re: scoundrel: _Nixon's Shadow_

[Otto]

>
> Otto:
>
> > Don't forget in your righteous anger about the
> > killed innocents those at
> > least one thousand American troops who've died in
> > the belief of serving
> > their country but instead were just employees of
> > Halliburton IG;
>
> The same could be said for the 50,000-plus US forces
> who died in Vietnam for the good of war profiteers.
> This is the subtext for Gravity's Rainbow and the
> background against which Pynchon writes that novel.
> This "righteous anger" is obviously alive in the US
> still -- Kerry is perhaps the most prominent Vietnam
> Vet who grew disillusioned when he discovered the
> truth about the war, then turned against the war when
> he got home, while the Swift Boat Vets for Untruth are
> among the many who have chosen instead to cling to the
> patriotic slogans and myths that their leaders fed
> them to keep them killing, and dying, in Vietnam.
>

"Unlike the president, the young men and women trying to stay alive in the
unraveling chaos of Iraq can't count on their daddies to get them out of the
line of fire."
Maureen Dowd
http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/0,1518,318275,00.html

DER SPIEGEL takes over some comments from the NYT.

> Seems to me that in GR Pynchon portrays Nixon as a
> figure of fun manipulated by the companies and
> individuals who thrive on war, then in Vineland
> identifies Nixon with the fascist twilight that is
> overtaking the US.  I don't see Pynchon treating Nixon
> as a tragic figure anywhere.
>

Tragic? Definitely not.

Otto