SLPAD - 8 a touch more about class

[Michael Bailey]

There’s yet more in the text about this “class” notion - hey, it might be
important.

He mentions the notorious failure of movement college kids & blue collar
workers to get together politically.

Which, well - from the angle of work being sort of a slightly laid-back
military, the natural distinction (& almost inevitable incompatibility)
betw blue collar workers experiencing “enlisted person” status, and
youngsters seeking out education so as to rise into the work equivalent of
officer classes is laid bare.

Which is another way to view academia: as a ladder into the officer ranks.

As clear-eyed seekers of wisdom and truth (the canonical, cherished,
innocent way to view college) we ideally may all say “sucks to the officer
ranks” before - and even while - making some kind of accommodation with
them, up to & including joining them.

I mean, it’s hard for me not to think of Pynchon as some kind of officer
(in, like, Billy Preston’s “war on poverty”) - or how about a “tech”
rating?, but then that escalates (or devolves, hyeugh hyeugh hyeugh) into
officership within that niche, which reclusiveness may delay but not always
fend off.

But “class” isn’t always a structure only enshrining suffering. Sometimes
it’s a thing to celebrate a touch of. Proposition: officers *can* be
idiots, but it’s not mandatory.
Also, rank as some might find certain puns, eg, within the oeuvre, rank has
its privileges.


The several times I’ve read this Intro, I have never delved into all the
names he drops into the next, rather generous, paragraph.

Therefore, that’s for tomorrow!