GR translation: the great Killer Weed advertising campaign of the thirties

[Dave Monroe]

I'm not sure one can overthink Pynchon.  Always pays to seek out the
possibilities, @ least.  The worst you can do is learn something.

On Tue, Feb 24, 2015 at 4:51 AM, Mike Jing
<gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
> Ah, that makes sense.  I was over-thinking it.  Thanks, Dave and David.
>
> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 10:56 PM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Killer Weed = Marijuana + propaganda.
>>
>> On Saturday, February 21, 2015, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Just as the federal government had used fear, prejudice, racism, and
>>> false stories of violence to 'tax' cocaine and opium products like
>>> heroin and morphine, in 1914, the newly formed Bureau of Narcotics
>>> used similar themes of uncontrollable violence and falsities to
>>> demonize marijuana. Movies and advertisements ran in theaters and
>>> newspapers around the country warning of the evils and dangers of its
>>> use: “Beware! Young and Old – People in All Walks of Life! It contains
>>> the Killer Drug “Marihuana” – a powerful narcotic in which lurks
>>> Murder! Insanity! Death!” Stories were told of people who became
>>> insane and uncontrollable criminals as a result of smoking marijuana.
>>> Marihuana was repeatedly referred to as "The Devil’s Harvest" or
>>> "Devil's Weed."
>>>
>>> http://brucealanblock.com/why-marijuana-became-legal/
>>>
>>> On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:21 PM, Dave Monroe <against.the.dave at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>> > Reefer Madness (1936)
>>> >
>>> > Reefer Madness (1937)
>>>
>>> >
>>> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reefer_Madness
>>> >
>>> > On Sat, Feb 21, 2015 at 9:13 PM, Mike Jing
>>> > <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> >> V580.35-581.17   Imagine the fellow’s plight—got so much money he
>>> >> don’t know
>>> >> what to do with it all. Don’t go screaming, “Give it to me!” either.
>>> >> He’s
>>> >> given it to you, though in roundabout ways you might need a good
>>> >> system of
>>> >> search to unsnarl. Oh, has he given it to you. By way of the Bland
>>> >> Institute
>>> >> and the Bland Foundation, the man has had his meathooks well into the
>>> >> American day-to-day since 1919. Who do you think sat on top of the
>>> >> patent
>>> >> for that 100-miles-per-gallon carburetor, eh? sure you’ve heard that
>>> >> story—maybe even snickered along with paid anthropologists who called
>>> >> it
>>> >> Automotive Age Myth or some shit—well, turns out the item was real,
>>> >> all
>>> >> right, and it was Lyle Bland who sprang for those academic hookers
>>> >> doing the
>>> >> snickering and the credentialed lying. Or how about the great Killer
>>> >> Weed
>>> >> advertising campaign of the thirties, who do you think worked
>>> >> hand-in-glove
>>> >> (or, as grosser individuals have put it, penis-in-mouth) with the FBI
>>> >> on
>>> >> that one? And remember all those
>>> >> guy-goes-to-the-doctor-can’t-get-a-hardon
>>> >> jokes? Planted by Bland, yup—half a dozen basic variations, after
>>> >> having
>>> >> done depth studies for the National Research Council that indicated an
>>> >> unacceptable 36% of the male work force weren’t paying enough
>>> >> attention to
>>> >> their cocks—not enough genital obsession there, and it was undermining
>>> >> the
>>> >> efficiency of the organs doing the real work.
>>> >>
>>> >> What does "Killer Weed" refer to here?  Googling points to PCP, but
>>> >> PCP
>>> >> seems to be introduced in the 50's.  And what would be the purpose of
>>> >> the
>>> >> advertising campaign anyway?
>>> -
>>> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?listpynchon-l
>
>
-
Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l