calculated madness on the way to the transit of Venus-

[Mark Kohut]

I'm convinced. I did not know this, or I don't remember it but it is
perfectly Pynchonian, I think. Captain of a Ship; ships
often a Ship of State metaphor...
and we know of P's Nixon obsession.
Terrif. Tahnks.

On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 6:21 PM, Thomas Eckhardt
<thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de> wrote:
> Surely, this is an allusion to the "madman theory":
>
> -- The madman theory was a primary characteristic of the foreign policy
> conducted by U.S. President Richard Nixon. His administration, the
> executive branch of the federal government of the United States from
> 1969 to 1974, attempted to make the leaders of other countries think
> Nixon was mad, and that his behavior was irrational and volatile.
> Fearing an unpredictable American response, leaders of hostile Communist
> Bloc nations would avoid provoking the United States.
>
> Nixon explained the strategy to his White House Chief of Staff, H. R.
> Haldeman:
>
> 'I call it the Madman Theory, Bob. I want the North Vietnamese to believe
> I've reached the point where I might do anything to stop the war. We'll just
> slip the word to them that, "for God's sake, you know Nixon is obsessed
> about communism. We can't restrain him when he's angry--and he has his hand
> on the nuclear button" and Ho Chi Minh himself will be in Paris in two days
> begging for peace."'--
>
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madman_theory
>
> "Thus deriving an Advantage..."
>
> (As for today's madmen, according to Dow Jones' MarketWatch, there seems to
> be no feigning involved:
>
> http://www.marketwatch.com/story/perhaps-you-missed-it-were-at-war-with-russia-2015-01-20)
>
>
>> "At this turn in his Life, Capt. Grant has discover'd in his own
>> feckless Youth, a Source of pre-civiliz'd Sentiment useful to his
>> Praxis of now and then pretending to be insane, thus deriving an
>> Advantage over any unsure as to which side of Reason he may actually
>> stand upon."
>
> -
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