Re: “Look It Up, Check It Out”: REX 84 and the History of an American Conspiracy

[Mark Kohut]

"Here Pynchon not only links his fictional PREP program to the actual
historical Nixon-era plans that are now part of the historical record, but
also links Nixon-era internment plans to the Reagan administration’s
explicit desire to have camps on hand for social unrest in the face of
another foreign war against Communism. Pynchon is clear to state that all
of these plans are publicly available, perhaps only in the underground
press of the time, but also hinting at the open history of right-wing
oppression of left-wing activists. Just go to the library."

"We can never have enough news"--TRP in a note to John C. Batchelor about
the non-MSM paper in which his supposition that Pynchon was really Salinger
appeared.
"I didn't know of your paper" but we can never have enough news"

On Tue, May 8, 2018 at 3:17 AM, Thomas Eckhardt <thomas.eckhardt at uni-bonn.de
> wrote:

> 'Oliver North is, hands down, the absolute best choice to lead our NRA
> Board, to fully engage with our members, and to unflinchingly stand and
> fight for the great freedoms he has defended his entire life," NRA
> executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre said in a statement on the
> pick.'
> https://edition.cnn.com/2018/05/07/politics/nra-oliver-north/index.html
>
> On Oliver North, Rex 84, its historical context and its impact on
> literature ("White Noise", "Vineland") and the popular imagination, see:
> https://wearethemutants.com/2017/03/13/look-it-up-check-it-
> out-rex-84-and-the-history-of-an-american-conspiracy/
>
> That is a Pynchon quote in the title:
>
> "‘In the olden days we called it the last roundup,’ DL explained. ‘Liked
> to scare each other with it, thought it was always real enough. The day
> they’d come and break into your house and put everybody in prison camps.
>  Not fun or sitcom prison
> camps, more like feedlots where we’d all become official, nonhuman
> livestock.’
> ‘You’ve seen camps like this?’ At once there seeped into the cheery space
> a silence like a stain in the light. Ditzah, at her editing table
> trembling, seemed to turn her body from what DL would say, to present less
> of a target, but DL only answered evenly.
> ‘Yep, I’ve seen ’em, your mom was in one, you’ll recall, but better than
> us reminiscing and boring you, go to the library sometime and read about
> it. Nixon had machinery for mass detention all in place and set to go.
> Reagan’s got it for when he invades Nicaragua. Look it up, check it out.’"
> VL, 264
>
> "Transcripts from the Iran-Contra Hearings in 1987 record the following
> dialogue between Congressman Jack Brooks, Oliver North's attorney Brendan
> Sullivan and Senator Daniel Inouye, the Democratic Chair of the joint
> Senate–House Committee:
> [Congressman Jack]
>
> Brooks: Colonel North, in your work at the N.S.C. were you not assigned,
> at one time, to work on plans for the continuity of government in the event
> of a major disaster?
> Brendan Sullivan [North's counsel, agitatedly]: Mr. Chairman?
> [Senator Daniel] Inouye: I believe that question touches upon a highly
> sensitive and classified area so may I request that you not touch upon that?
> Brooks: I was particularly concerned, Mr. Chairman, because I read in
> Miami papers, and several others, that there had been a plan developed, by
> that same agency, a contingency plan in the event of emergency, that would
> suspend the American constitution. And I was deeply concerned about it and
> wondered if that was an area in which he had worked. I believe that it was
> and I wanted to get his confirmation.
> Inouye: May I most respectfully request that that matter not be touched
> upon at this stage. If we wish to get
> into this, I'm certain arrangements can be made for an executive session."
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rex_84
>
> "Ollie for President, he'll get things done."
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJMP0FEz51U
>
> Look it up, check it out.
>
> --
> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>