Thread: Catch-22

I'm reading a book at the moment called: Negation, text worlds, and discourse: the pragmatics of fiction. The author, Laura Hidalgo Downing uses the novel Catch-22 as a backdrop for her study. I came across this paragraph which seemed to be so very indicative of Thailand in the here and now:

'Group headquarters were alarmed, for there was no telling what people might find out once they felt free to ask whatever questions they wanted to. Colonel Cathcart sent Colonel Korn to stop it, and Colonel Korn succeeded with a rule governing the asking of questions. Colonel Korn's rule was a stroke of genius, Colonel Korn explained in his report to Colonel Cathcart. Under Colonel Korn's rule, the only people permitted to ask questions were those who never did. Soon the only people attending were those who never asked questions, and the sessions were discontinued altogether, since Clevinger, the corporl and Colonel Korn agreed that it was neither possible nor necessary to educate people who never questioned anything.' (Catch-22:49)

Any thoughts?

Nice one, been years since I read it but it describes the politics in my office to a T.

No posts for this really. Yep. It's the way it is here in many ways. No only did those allowed to ask questions not ask them they felt dignified for being the chosen ones. Maybe the anticorruption commisions are made up of people like that. On the other side of it, in general here in Thailand no matter what a person in government or connected to government does for the nation or for their money they only want to do as little of it as possible. Look busy.

Originally Posted by Bettyboo

Any thoughts?

Questions not allowed. This thread is discontinued.

Thanks for reminding me of a great movie. Haven't seen it in years. Downloading now.

^
Get the book.
The book has so much more in it that couldn't be fitted into the film

Yossarian was a collector of good questions and had used them to disrupt the educational sessions Clevinger had once conducted two nights a week in Captain Black's intelligence tent with the corporal in eyeglasses who everybody knew was probably a subversive. Captain Black knew he was a subversive because he wore eyeglasses and used words like panacea and utopia, and because he disapproved of Adolf Hitler, who had done such a great job of combating unAmerican activities in Germany.

Yossarian attended the education sessions because he wanted to find out why so many people were working so hard to kill him. A handful of other men were also interested, and the questions were many and good when Clevinger and the subversive corporal finished and made the mistake of asking if there were any.

“Who is Spain?”

“Why is Hitler?”

“When is right?”

“Where was that stooped and mealy-colored old man I used to call poppa when the merry-go-round broke down?”

“How was Trump at Munich?”

“Hi-ho beriberi!”

and “Balls!” all rang out in rapid succession, and then there was Yossarian with the question that had no answer:

“Where are the Snowdens of yesteryear?”

Hitch 22 is a pretty good read.