IVIV1: Introducing Pynchon's burgher

[Mark Kohut]

MB writes:
I'd call the PI - cop relationship a fairly good approximation
of the dilemma of citizen v state writ small,

And THAT is a lifelong Pynchon theme, yes?....


--- On Mon, 8/31/09, Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Michael Bailey <michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: IVIV1: Introducing Pynchon's burgher
> To: "P-list" <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Date: Monday, August 31, 2009, 2:19 AM
> Why is a repo person automatically
> heinous?
> 
> People buy things on credit, but fail to pay --
> "what's a mother to do?"
> 
> He carries the bag but never uses it.  That's
> laudable.
> 
> He has a specific mission - to get the goods (as the IWW
> saying
> goes, "direct action gets the goods") and - unless all of
> contract law
> is to be thrown out as inadmissible impositions of The Man
> -
> he is performing a real service.
> 
> ...yeah, yeah, buy-on-credit places
> jack up the price, and easily available credit leads people
> to live
> beyond their means, so forth, but these are systemic ills
> and have
> much more to do with inherent flaws in capitalism, or, to
> avoid that jargon,
> with areas where the human ability to interact gracefully
> is
> still developing (sort of like, hey, where was language or
> algebra
> a few thousand years ago - they didn't even have a word
> for
> antidisestablishmentarianism in Egypt, nor did Greek math
> have a zero,
> so I suspect there's some unknown right now that will make
> a huge
> difference in the spreading of wealth sometime, when it
> takes hold
> ("the reds are talking hold" - Hunter S Thompson)) so
> forth, than with
> the legitimacy of private collection efforts in any
> individual case...
> 
> but we've established his efforts were non-violent, right?
> 
> His private-enterprise role pretty much prevents him being
> corrupt
> to any great extent: collude with one deadbeat and his job
> is pretty much
> toast.  He has to get the car, or whatever, back.
> 
> OK, he can occasionally let one of his skip-tracees slip,
> in theory,
> but again, private enterprise reduces the worth of that
> service since
> the seekers can just send somebody else.  And it won't
> look good
> on his quarterly review.
> 
> Now, having defended the noble repo person / skip tracer,
> (pretty much sincerely)...
> 
> One of the things I think is going on in IV as well as
> most
> noir fiction is sorting out the PI's stance on the cops.
> 
> I'd call the PI - cop relationship a fairly good
> approximation
> of the dilemma of citizen v state writ small, which I bet
> somebody cleverer
> and better-read has already noticed...but it's sorta new to
> me...
> 
> Nobody's perfect - as somebody in Doc's profession
> certainly notices.
> 
> Cops have such a broad mandate, a fuzzy agenda, that it's
> much
> easier for them to cover up malfeasance and stay employed.
> 
> Cops have more power, are expected to stay busy all the
> time,
> they are supposed to enforce a rule of law, while it's
> human nature
> to be loyal to buddies, bosses (to some extent), to favor
> people
> who are like unto oneself....
> 
> I could go on and on, but although I think I was onto
> something 3 paragraphs
> back, I'm pretty sure I'm spinning my wheels now! 
> Where did I go wrong?
> 
> I did want to defend the humble repo person - check
> I did want to say I relish an interplay of forces between
> cop and pi - check
> 
> I wanted to say nice things about cops (to some extent)
> - if a cop isn't bent or brutal, he or she is certainly a
> valuable
> part of society!
> 
> Fnord
> 
> 
> -- 
> "Furthermore, in the postmodern usage of Menippean satire
> it is
> considered appropriate to abbreviate concepts, but not to
> omit
> articles." - Keith
>