CoL49 - Responses to last week’s questions

[J K Van Nort]

Why is it love and not capitalism that the founder of IA believes has ruined his life?
His choice demonstrates his indoctrination to corporatocracy and the vision of how success is measured in a capitalist/materialistic society. When he no longer has status, even if that status involves ignorantly signing paperwork that implicates him, he can only look outside the structure/Tower, because as Mark says, the Tower is everywhere. I agree with Michael that he doesn't understand love and never really expresses that his wife's leaving isn't just the result of his loss of status. His wife is another expression/symbol of his status, and when she leaves him, this is just another symbol of his loss of status. Perhaps he sees love as the distraction that led to him losing his job.
Why would a member of the IA be getting drunk in a gay bar?
Wearing the pin would obviously create curiosity in those around him, just as it did with Oedipa. Could he be proselytizing? If he sits around in various bars where lonely people might need consolation, could he interest them in the IA? He has no problem discussing the concept with Oedipa, but beyond offering that she use W.A.S.T.E. to contact the founder, he doesn't offer the phone number to call.
Why does Oedipa feel despair when she realizes that "nobody around her has any sexual relevance" to her?
I think this says something about Oedipa's sense of self which she is overcoming (in the Nietzschean sense). She considers her sexuality to be valued/desired by men, and this impacts her sense of self to have no one interested in her who would be a viable sexual partner.
How does the founding story of the Isolate at the gay bar compare with the drunken sailor grieving his wife? Why is that important?
I think this gets to the heart of the founder's lack of love. The drunken sailor, while certainly not a model lover, grieves the loss of love rather than choosing to reject love and blame it for his losses.
In solidarity,
James

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