Chapter 1: Section 6: Page 52: Line 134 (928)

 Professor Vanderjuice was along for the day, having completed whatever business had detained him in Chicago.

* * * * * * * * * *

Well, we know what business that was: a contract with Scarsdale Vibe to build an Anti-Tesla Machine! So, having completed the business, I suppose that means Vanderjuice is now working for Scarsdale. But that business is still a mystery to the Chums. Ray Ipsow seems the kind of bloke to keep a person's business their own business while also being stand up enough to help out the Professor if he were to really find himself in serious trouble. Ray may eventually have to let the Chums know what the Professor has gotten himself into so that they can have a big adventure saving Vanderjuice's ass and defeating Scarsdale! Although judging by the direction history continues to veer, people like Scarsdale usually win out.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 35: Line 208 (580)

 The criminality in the room was almost palpable.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Almost"? I guess if it weren't almost palpable it would have to be palpable which would mean literally palpable although one of the literal definitions of palpable is "almost tangible" and one of the definitions is "tangible" so what was my point?

Oh yeah! Scarsdale Vibe is totally a criminal.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Line 203 (575)

 The call went through immediately, and Scarsdale, excusing himself, withdrew to an instrument in another part of the suite.

* * * * * * * * * *

By instrument, Pynchon means telephone. Maybe in 1893, rooms existed that were exclusively used for the telephone. So that you could have your conversations with your mistresses and evil business partners in private, away from the leering ears and prying eyes of your house staff and children. Although maybe, by instrument, Pynchon meant toilet and Scarsdale has gone off to take a crap. Who can tell?! If I can convince enough people to interpret it that way in some kind of academic paper, that's what it'll mean, right?! Man, I've got to go back and get my Masters! Look for my thesis in a few years: "Toilets in Literature, Movies, and Dirty Playground Jokes." Pulp Fiction will feature quite extensively in my thesis!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 199-202 (571-574)

 "Here I figured you fellows spend your time wandering around with your thoughts all far, far away, and Professor, why, you're just a damn horse trader without mercy's what it is. Guess I should summon the legal staff, before I find myself hanging in a poultry-shop window, two bits away from getting fricasseed. Foley, would you just crank us up long distance there on the telephone—get us Somble, Strool & Fleshway, if you'd be so kind? Could be they'd share some ideas on how best to 'spring' for a project of this scale."

* * * * * * * * * *

With the fish hooked, there's nothing left for Scarsdale to do but insult the Professor and get the lawyers on the horn.

"you fellows"
Probably said with derision, meaning "the people with the imagination to see how the universe works and the ability to find ways to use that to make it better." Probably seen as children by businessmen. If not children then as products, to be used and manipulated in any way that can increase profits.
    You might have noticed, if you've been reading much of this blog, I despise certain types of people. I'm not against business people entirely. We do need them in the same way we need janitors and fast food servers and surgeons. But there's that type of businessman whose entire life is business and how they can make money with their business. They're like pot smokers whose entire personality is smoking pot. Look, guy in the pot leaf hat with the 420 tattoo and the bong strapped to his belt like a six shooter, I get it! You love the weed!

"your thoughts all far, far away"
Again, he's belittling scientific thinking. "You exist in an unreal world so far away from reality that you deserve to be exploited by those of us down here on Earth in the mud and shit. We make the money and the only way to improve the world is if there's some kind of payoff."
    My dad once said to me, "Money is freedom." And I said, "Time is freedom." And he couldn't contemplate the ability to have time without money. He just didn't have the imagination to break himself out of the system.

"you're just a damn horse trader without mercy"
Most of us see in others what we are. The Professor is nervous and agitated and in way above his head. He's answering questions he was asked, not committing to a contract to sell his soul for a horse. Here, Scarsdale hears "however much Tesla needs to build his device is probably what I'll need, at least" as "Well, how much is the other guy getting? Because that's how much I want." But the Professor is just trying to get some variables to put into an equation, that's all.

"I should summon the legal staff, before I find myself hanging in a poultry-shop window, two bits away from getting fricasseed"
Here Scarsdale pretends that he might get swindled by this merciless horse trader, feigning weakness as an insult to the Professor, by pretending this scientist isn't being honest in his motivations. Is also a nice segue to get the lawyers on the phone, something he probably couldn't wait to do. He's desperate to lock the Professor into a contract that's one hundred percent going to be to the Professor's disadvantage.

"'spring'"
Knowing Pynchon's quirks by now, putting the term 'spring' in quotes must mean it's only recently come into fashion to use it as a means to pay for or fund something. Previously I've done research on each of the words he's used this way and it's panned out. So I'm just going to trust this one because I'm about 20 ounces into a Hamm's which isn't great for researching. It's also maybe not great for writing but what can you do?

"20 ounces into a Hamm's"
That might not sound like much but I really don't drink much. I can maybe finish a six pack in three months? I do enjoy this cheap beer though because it was the beer of my grandfather, the nicest person to ever exist on Earth (after his wife, my grandmother).

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Line 198 (570)

 Vibe's eyes with a contemptuous twinkle which colleagues had learned meant he had what he wanted.

* * * * * * * * * *

It looks like Scarsdale Vibe was less interested in getting a price quote and simply needed to gauge the Professor's willingness to assent to the project. And if the Professor is stammering on about how much it will cost, he's obviously made the leap, in his mind, to help Scarsdale destroy Tesla. So I guess "Well, ring-tailed rutabagas" was an exclamation of surprise at how easily the Professor came around to becoming an accessory to evil.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Line 197 (569)

 "Well, ring-tailed rutabagas."

* * * * * * * * * *

Is this a bad statement to hear when negotiating a deal? If you were in a business meeting and you were all, "My price is one million dollars, sir!" Then the guy across the long table replied to you, "Well, ring-tailed rutabagas," would you be ecstatic or devastated?!
    I have a feeling the Professor shouldn't just feel devastated but scared at this response. I think maybe he's asked one too many questions and Scarsdale is beginning to get suspicious of him. If this were a mob movie from the 1980s, Scarsdale's next action would be to tear open the Professor's shirt to see if he's hiding a wire.

Fact Check: I don't think rutabagas have tails, ringed or not.

Double Fact Check: You might have realized that my fact check wasn't the best fact check because it began "I don't think." That indicates I didn't actually do any research and just trusted the facts that have piled up in my head over the last fifty years.

Triple Fact Check: I've never eaten a rutabaga, as far as I know.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 193-194 (565-566)

 "Cost? Oh, I couldn't really—that is, I shouldn't—"

* * * * * * * * * *

Is it "couldn't" or "shouldn't"? What's the confusion, old man?! Can you not conceive of the price or is the matter just too delicate a topic to broach? Are you afraid that if you estimate too high, Scarsdale will be offended and shoot you with his cane? Or do you fear lowballing yourself and being stuck in a contract with this evil monster which will cost you more than you're worth?!

I suppose I would also be super nervous and confused dealing with an evil super-villain in his evil penthouse lair with his evil goon standing nearby smoking way too many evil cigars.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 191-192 (563-564)

 "Tell me the details later. Now—how much do you reckon something like that would actually, um," lowering his voice, "cost?"

* * * * * * * * * *

"lowering his voice"
So the only part of this entire conversation that Scarsdale Vibe believes might constitute an indiscretion in polite conversation is the cost of it all? Or maybe he's just lowering his voice because he knows if the Professor estimates an exorbitant sum, Scarsdale's next words will be, "I guess I'll just have Tesla killed for twenty quid."

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 189-190 (561-562)

 "Well in theory, I don't see any great obstacle. It's a simple phase inversion, though there may be non-linear phenomena of scale we cannot predict till we build a working Device—"

* * * * * * * * * *

"I don't see any great obstacle"
That's pretty much what I figured since I know so much about radio and I took calculus and physics in high school.
    Never mind what grade I got.

"It's a simple phase inversion"
I was going to brag some more about how I understand waves due to practically growing up on the beaches of Santa Cruz and seeing the phenomena of waves canceling each other out but then I thought about Star Trek and the transporters and I got super creeped out thinking about a Romulan device that could create a phase inversion transporter that would cancel out the person being beamed through space. I mean, in theory, that could work, right?!

"non-linear phenomena of scale"
I think this means once it's up and running, we could see unforeseen effects like giant earthquakes, random people's heads exploding, or Godzilla.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 185-188 (557-560)

 "Precisely why Pierpont's in on this. That and his arrangement with Edison—but there I go again spilling secrets. Bankrolling Tesla has given Morgan's access to all Tesla's engineering secrets. And he has operatives on the spot, ready day and night to rush us photographed copies of anything we need to know."

* * * * * * * * * *

A-ha! So J.P. Morgan's historical association with Nikola Tesla plays into Pynchon's tale! According to this fiction, Morgan wasn't interested in working with Tesla on a trans-Atlantic wireless system at all (or anything seven years before that, even, as he seems to be doing here in 1893, according to Scarsdale). He was simply infiltrating Tesla's camp to sabotage his work.
    I don't know if this is foreshadowing or some other literary motif but we'll see later that the working class plays the same game and are labeled socialists, communists, and anarchists for their efforts. How the world eventually comes to view you and your actions all depends on whether or not you own the media. And law enforcement. And politicians. One guy is just tweaking the rules because he's smart and good at money and rich and awesome. The other guy is a chowder-headed nitwit with a bomb who read one pamphlet on socialism, misunderstood it because he was poor and dumb, and became a terrorist who needs to be hanged as an example to all the other chowder-heads who dare to try to make the world a better place.

"he has operatives on the spot"
I should probably try to remember this when I get to the Nikola Tesla section. Maybe I can ferret out the characters who are obviously on Morgan's payroll!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 34: Lines 180-182 (552-554)

 "Speak bluntly may I? Invent us a counter-transformer. Some piece of equipment that will detect one of these Tesla rigs in operation, and then broadcast something equal and opposite that'll nullify its effects."

* * * * * * * * * *

Here we see free market capitalism at work as it is expected to work by powerful and rich magnates. If somebody is free to improve society at the expense of the rich and powerful's wealth, then the rich and the powerful should be free to smash those people into little worthless smithereens. Scarsdale has no intention of "competing" in the "free market" of ideas. Tesla wants to build free power; Scarsdale wants to build a vault around the entire concept and sink it in the ocean.

"Speak bluntly may I?"
Imagine having to always couch your beliefs and declarations in metaphor, simile, and analogy because the earnest baring of your soul would be too horrific for those around you to stomach.
    I typed this meaning to criticize people like fictional character Scarsdale Vibe but have inadvertently hurt my own feelings.

"Invent us a counter-transformer"
Wait. I missed the part where Tesla was inventing Transformers in 1893. So basically Scarsdale wants the Professor to invent Decepticons.

"Some piece of equipment that will detect one of these Tesla rigs in operation, and then broadcast something equal and opposite that'll nullify its effects."
This isn't an outrageous theory at all. During the fledgling days of radio experimentation, transmissions had no way of going out without interfering with other radio transmissions in the area, resulting in garbled nonsense. This was about a decade or so later than 1893 so Scarsdale wouldn't be basing his idea on that. But the sense that if something can be transmitted, it is a thing that can be actively stopped is a reasonable one from a human perspective. Can you not smash a pipe pumping gas from one place to another to stop it from powering a distant apparatus? Could you not cut a wire to stop a telegraph transmission? Why not be able to detect and stop free power transmitted through the Aether then? And the best thing about making a "counter-transformer"? As the diabolical thwarter of some other scientist, you don't need to be nearly as imaginative or smart to build the thing that stops another thing!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Pages 33-34: Lines 177-178 (549-550)

 "If such a thing is ever produced," Scarsdale Vibe was saying, "it will mean the end of the world, not just 'as we know it' but as anyone knows it. It is a weapon, Professor, surely you see that—the most terrible weapon the world has seen, designed to destroy not armies or matériel, but the very nature of exchange, our Economy's long struggle to evolve up out of the fish-market anarchy of all battling all to the rational systems of control whose blessings we enjoy at present."

* * * * * * * * * *

"it will mean the end of the world, not just 'as we know it' but as anyone knows it"
Yes and that isn't a bad thing for people who aren't billionaire industrialists creating the rules to keep themselves enriched and everybody else desperate enough to do the labor they need cheaply.

"the most terrible weapon the world has seen, designed to destroy not armies or matériel, but the very nature of exchange"
Changing the nature of exchange wouldn't destroy the world. It would, as Scarsdale mentioned, change the world as we know it. Free energy would mean people could live without being yoked to some endless cycle of needing to make money to pay for simply surviving. A large part of surviving would be free, a gift from the modern world to modern people who realize subsistence, in the modern era, shouldn't be the only thing one's time is spent on. Exchange would still happen but on a more personal and local level. It's not like free power will suddenly give everybody the ability to weave a basket. You're still going to need some way to pay for that basket you're obsessing over. Which means you still probably need a job of some kind, or some kind of expertise to trade for the basket. Scarsdale seeing this "tremendous gift" as a "terrible weapon" says so much about Scarsdale Vibe that I feel embarrassed seeing so much of his inner being.

"our Economy's long struggle to evolve up out of the fish-market anarchy"
This is a lie rich and powerful people love to tell. It's the one about how the Economy is somehow a living or organic being that has "evolved" according to some kind of science or natural law. But it hasn't. Economies are man-made. Aspects of our current economy have all been chosen and created by people who could have chosen or created an entirely different thing. If they "evolved" at all, it was due to human intervention by humans who benefitted from the chosen path of "evolution." Obviously rich and powerful people don't want a "fish-market anarchy" because another way of saying that is "free market" and even though they constantly praise free markets, it's truly their biggest nightmare.

"all battling all to the rational systems of control"
All battling all is the free market. It's what capitalists say they want but don't actually. They say they hate regulation which is "the rational systems of control" but in truth they just don't want regulation that limits their excesses and abuses. They constantly lobby the government to make laws and changes that benefit corporations. This is Scarsdale Vibe confessing: the free market is bad and regulations are good. But only by corporate and industrialist definitions. If it means a corporation can pollute to save money, the free market is great and rational systems of control are bad! If the government steps in to protect its citizens, corporations think the opposite.

* * * * * * * * * *

P.S. the First: How did I not mention the use of "the most terrible weapon the world has seen" as metaphor? Scarsdale gets readers to think of the atomic bomb without ever mentioning such a thing (since he doesn't know it will exist in the future). This is a lot like how Pynchon wrote around the idea of the bomb in without ever actually mentioning it in Gravity's Rainbow.
    Also, I didn't seem to appreciate the "evolve up out of fish-market anarchy" for the evolutionary pun it was, comparing the economy to mankind's climb out of the ocean.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 33: Lines 167-172 (539-544)

 "Back in the spring, Dr. Tesla was able to achieve readings on his transformer of up to a million volts. It does not take a prophet to see where this is headed. He is already talking in private about something he calls a 'World-System,' for producing huge amounts of electrical power that anyone can tap in to for free, anywhere in the world, because it uses the planet as an element in a gigantic resonant circuit. He is naïve enough to think he can get financing for this, from Pierpont, or me, or one or two others. It has escaped his mighty intellect that no one can make any money off an invention like that. To put up money for research into a system of free power would be to throw it away, and violate—hell, betray—the essence of everything modern history is supposed to be."

* * * * * * * * * *

"Dr. Tesla"
Being that Scarsdale Vibe is such a comic book villain with a comic book villain name, Dr. Tesla simply sounds like a super hero. Which he totally was and, I imagine, Pynchon will continue to make him look more and more like one. Because I think, at least so far, Pynchon is really going for a comic book flavor with this book.

"of up to a million volts"
That's an actual lot in 1893 and not some Dr. Evil hilariously too low number, right? I'm only asking because I'm dumb. The only thing I know about electricity is that if your Crossbow arcade game isn't working right and you're holding the trigger, you can touch another piece of metal and get a somewhat pleasant low level shock run through you. Maybe it was just that one machine at the 7-Eleven by the house where I grew up and not all of the machines. Remember, I'm dumb so I don't know how science works.

"does not take a prophet"
"It doesn't take a prophet to see we can't make a profit with Tesla," is what Scarsdale Vibe should have said. I mean, he says it. But not like a comic book villain would have with a nice pun and a tweak of his waxed mustache.

"He is already talking in private"
If it's in private, how does Scarsdale know about it?! He must employ spies working for Tesla!

"a 'World-System,' for producing huge amounts of electrical power that anyone can tap in to for free"
Not just a hero but a socialist as well! That should be expected. In comic books, all super heroes are socialist in that they almost never charge for their heroics. And all comic book villains are capitalists because how else did they get all that money to build that evil lair in which they could hire lots of henchmen for low wages without health insurance to help them build a huge and expensive laser that can destroy the moon? "But why would they destroy the moon?" you might ask. For profit! Duh!

"uses the planet as an element in a gigantic resonant circuit"
Here's what I can find on the Internet when I search for "resonant circuit for dumbies":

"A resonant circuit is formed when a capacitor and inductor (coil) are in parallel or in series. The two circuit elements will block or pass a single specific frequency out of a divers mix. For this reason, resonant circuits make possible radio and TV transmission and reception and perform many other useful tasks."

Well, that explains that! I'm so glad I understand it now! Of course that's why they make TV and radio possible! Duh! So obvious! Now imagine if the Earth were a resonant circuit! We would have like a million more television shows, right?!

"He is naïve enough to think he can get financing for this"
This is why the government should fund experiments in science and technology. Because science and technology should make the world a better place for everybody, not just for the investors who then have a right to own it and partial it out to only people who can pay the exorbitant prices charged for access to it.

"Pierpont"
John Pierpont Morgan. A rich American bastard who exploited loads of people and stole ungodly amounts of money from the general economy. Eventually in 1900, J.P. Morgan does invest in Tesla because Scarsdale Vibe doesn't know as much as he thinks he knows! Except maybe he does because J.P. Morgan invests in Tesla to build a better telegraph system and Tesla immediately decided to work on the free power deal instead. Morgan, as Vibe notes, realized he couldn't make any money on owning 51% of free power and killed the deal, the selfish rich bastard. He had so much money but he could only invest in things that made him more money? What a jerk. Morgan died peacefully at the age of 76 because there is no God.

"It has escaped his mighty intellect that no one can make any money off an invention like that."
It has escaped Scarsdale's mighty intellect that not all people are selfish twats and so maybe profit isn't their only concern. But then again, Scarsdale has the kind of thinking you'd find in the brain of a modern Conservative in which only profit matters and life must be earned. So free energy has two faults: it doesn't make any money and it freely gives people something they, apparently, don't deserve.

"To put up money for research into a system of free power would be to throw it away, and violate—hell, betray—the essence of everything modern history is supposed to be."
People who think they're smart actually believe crap like this. They believe only profit motivates. They believe only competition can improve a system. They believe money invested for the betterment of mankind is money wasted. They believe modern history is made by rich and powerful men who make decisions based on numbers and not people. Maybe that's true. Maybe that is what modern history is and maybe to try anything else is to betray modern history. But if that's the case, I'm ready to fucking betray it. As Huck Finn said, "All right, then, I'll go to hell."

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 33: Line 166 (538)

 Up in his penthouse suite, Scarsdale had moved on to the business at hand.

* * * * * * * * * *

Now that the socialist fact-checker has left the building to go drink himself silly and dance with women, things that aren't earning him money after which he'll probably expect a handout for not working at all during every minute of his life, Scarsdale can get down to the matter of money: how much is the Professor willing to sell his soul for?

By the way, the penthouse suite of the Palmer House is still touted as a great place to do your business! It's a beautiful space with loads and loads of beautiful rooms full of peacock imagery. It's not just a place to stay; it's a historic Chicago destination! Hopefully they also love handing out checks to bloggers who promote them online! Cha-ching!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 33: Line 157-158 (529-530)

 "He seems different these days. You notice anything?"

* * * * * * * * * *

Ray is talking about the Professor. He's asking Merle and Chevrolette as if they've hung around him enough to notice. Maybe they have. I haven't been privy to every single thing that's happened since this story began. Maybe Merle had enough time with the Professor on the ride to the steak house to notice the Professor has become severely agitated and anxious due to his economic dealings with a man named Scarsdale Vibe. It's his own fault, of course. As soon as somebody tries to shake my hand and says, "Hello, my name is Scarsdale," I would be saying, "Okay. Nice to meet you but I have to jump out of this window and run away down the street like an out of control ping pong ball now!"

Actually, that's my reaction whenever anybody tries to shake my hand. But dealing with a man by the name of Scarsdale is like putting punctuation on a text message to a youth. It's only going to cause trouble.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 32: Line 150 (522)

 Scarsdale squinted, not sure if this should be taken as an affront to his faith.

* * * * * * * * * *

In a way, Ray Ipsow has checkmated Scarsdale Vibe here. Vibe admitted to being guided by Second Corinthians so he can either choose to live by this statement and suffer Ray's insult, or he can drop the entire charade and just exert his ultimate power. You know, violence. Obviously that would come with some crazy complicated strings attached, and might sour his deal with the Professor. So he's taking this moment to squint and decide "if this should be taken as an affront to his faith." In other words, if he decides it was an affront, Ray is going to get his ass beat.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 32: Line 148 (520)

 The guards lounging by the doorway seemed to grow more alert.

* * * * * * * * * *

Whose perspective is this bit of narration from? If an omniscient narrator, wouldn't they know for sure if the guards grew more alert? If the narrator were not omniscient, I suppose this would be a fine thing to say to the reader, as if the text were the Dungeon Master of a role playing game and the reader the player character.

"Gary the Small mouths off to the wizard," declares Gary Rochambeau, clutching either side of his hobbit's character sheet in anticipation of the wizard's reaction.
    "The guards lounging by the doorway seem to grow more alert," replies Dark Cyrus, his Game Master.

I suppose if we think of Ray Ipsow as Gary the Small in the previous example, it makes sense. Ray would have known he's pushing the limits of Scarsdale's patience and so checks to see how Vibe's bodyguards are reacting. But we know the narrator is some omniscient fan of the Chums of Chance Adventure Book series. Unless the narrator changed when the story began following the Professor and Ray, leaving the Chums at the steakhouse.

Anyway, Ray probably realizes he should shut up before he gets his ass beat.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 32: Line 138 (510)

 "You are a socialist, sir."

* * * * * * * * * *

Yeah? So?

Imagine thinking what makes socialism socialism is all the terrible fascist leaders who have become authoritarian rulers on the idea of socialism and not that socialism is a means to make sure government provides protections for all citizens, not just the wealthy. Imagine being so wealthy that even if you were taxed nearly 100% on the highest amounts you make and, instead of losing that extra wealth that, as Scarsdale admitted, would simply sit there growing unused, you chose instead to convince all of the non-wealthy people that a government that could protect them against the crimes of the rich was itself evil and despicable. Imagine shrugging and pointing out that socialism is corrupt because leaders are corrupt but also living in a democracy where you can vote out those corrupt leaders. Now imagine people actually choosing to vote for known corrupt leaders simply because they said the right mean things about the right people.

Just try it. Try to imagine being a conservative in America. It's not fun.

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 32: Line 136-137 (508-509)

 "Except that in these times, 'need' arises directly from criminal acts of the rich, so it 'deserves' whatever amount of money will atone for it. Fathomable enough for you?"

* * * * * * * * * *

My man, Ray Ipsow!

What are the themes of Pynchon's big three books, Gravity's Rainbow, Against the Day, and Mason & Dixon (and isn't he supposed to have one more of these in here? Covering some major turning point in American history? He'd better be working on it!)? That's not a question that I'm asking so that I can answer it. I'm not that smart. But it seems Gravity's Rainbow had something to do with technology reaching a point where our lives could be taken not just in an instant but almost before an instant . . . sort of beyond the zero. Technology isn't some actor on the stage either so part of the theme was about the people—the Them—who built and controlled this technology, and who use every one of us as a means to their own greedy end: wealth. And guess what the theme of Against the Day is turning out to be? The wealthy manipulating markets and law to increase their wealth while walking over the stooped backs and carcasses of the masses. It also has a lot to say about technology but I'm only thirty pages in so I can't speak to that much (plus I'm only thirty pages in so maybe I've got the whole capitalism is super bad theme all wrong! (But I doubt it)). And what about Mason & Dixon? I don't remember much thematically about that book (which is why I need to re-read it). But it must have a lot to say about racism and the wealth garnered from the slave trade. How could it not?! It's about the frickin' Mason/Dixon line!

My point is that this is another book that I'm thrilled to realize a conservative reader would get angry while reading it. Goddamned Social Justice Warrior Thomas Pynchon!

Chapter 1: Section 4: Page 32: Line 135 (507)

 "Out of a belief, surely fathomable, that merely to need a sum is not to deserve it."

* * * * * * * * * *

And this statement gets to the heart of American life. It's the great illusion many people choose to live by: some people don't deserve life; it must be earned. Just imagine thinking that way. Imagine being such a bitter, angry, cynical, envious piece of shit that you're constantly judging the way other people live based on some arbitrary system you've either created or bought into. Imagine choosing to be a carpenter and then being angry at a poet for not also being a carpenter. Imagine having inherited money and still thinking that you earned it and your life means more than somebody who didn't inherit any money.

Fuck. You don't have to imagine any of that. If you live in America, just look around. Way too high a percentage of the people you're surrounded by believe this shit that life must be earned. And this is why religion, on top of wealth, is such a travesty. Because now you're teaching people that the afterlife must be earned! Not only must you waste your one precious life working your ass off, almost certainly not being compensated enough for it, but you also need to waste your one precious life not enjoying earthly things because you're trying to earn a place in the afterlife.

Goddamn. Imagine throwing your only life away for fictions and plutocratic machinations? Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. I'm so depressed now!