AtDTDA: [38] pgs.1074/1075 The Obliterator

[robinlandseadel at comcast.net]

There are serious issues regarding Idiocy on these pages. First off:

          Reef, Stray, and Ljubica returned to the U.S. pretending 
          to be Italian immigrants.

Ah, you cry "But what happened to Yashmeen—Idiot!" 

Let's try to find the painting in this mistake.

First off, Ljubica can't return to the states, she's never been 
there before. Unless we managed to get mixed up in some 
Quaterninionic time tunnel, packed with parallel time tracks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=To_FmzOoJe8&feature=related

At Ellis Island, Reef, regarding it his best option, remains silent long 
enough to get a big "I" for idiot chalked on his back. An service employee sponges it off—AGAIN [how can he sponge it off again if it's the first time he's sponged it off]—IDIOCY!

          '''Wait.'' Reef said, "who are you?" 
          "They call me 'The Obliterator.'" 
          Reef came to think of it as a kindness on the part of some crypto-                    
          Anarchist. who'd drifted into government work but could still 
          recognize and help out a fellow outlaw.

The idiocy theme in Against the Day is explored in this Pynchon Wiki article:

http://against-the-day.pynchonwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Idiots_and_Idiocy_in_Against_the_Day

But first, I'm going to play a little song:

          Out on the floor, used
          To be such a bore,
          Till we discov-ered
          What thrills were in store, with
          That step ex-otic, known as
          'The Idiotic' . . .
          Head like a pin? drool down your chin?
          Could qualify-you
          To give it a spin, tho'
          It sounds neurotic,
          It's just 'The Idiotic'!
          Take all those
          Waltzes and polkas,
          Stuff 'em all-down-a-hole, 'coz
          There's a scat-terbrained rhyth-m to-day . . .
          It's the new 'Idiot-ic,'
          And it's kinda hypnotic,
          In its own imbecil-ical way!
          (Say),
          Try, it once-and-you'll-find
          You've, gone out-of-your-mind
          For—the craze of the mo-ment,
          That's one-of-a-kind,
          And it's just-so narcot-ic, that
          I ven-ture to say . . . you'll
          Be doing 'The
          Id-iotic,' till they
          Gotta-come take you a-way!

AtD pgs. 823/824