Catch-22 Redux

Oscar Wilde knew what he was talking about

Oscar Wilde made the observation, or was it the prediction? Joseph Heller provided the blueprint over fifty years ago. The current bullshit surrounding critical race theory proves, once again, that Catch-22 is the greatest management text ever written. Don’t believe me? Compare and contrast. First, as reported by Power Line.

For those of you unfamiliar with Catch-22. Captain Black attempts a grandstand play. He comes up with a requirement that soldiers must sign a loyalty oath in order to carry out the business of living. Soon, loyalty oaths are required throughout the base.

Captain Black says, people who are loyal “would not mind signing all the loyalty oaths they had to.” They need to sign more and more as the fervor mounts. Initially, Black orders that all combat personnel sign one loyalty oath to receive maps from the intelligence tent, another to get parachutes, and a third to qualify for a ride from the squadron to the airfield. Soon the men must sign oaths just to get their food at the mess hall. They must sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” to use the salt or pepper.

From the book:

“The important thing is to keep them pledging,” he explained to his cohorts. “It doesn’t matter whether they mean it or not. That’s why they make little kids pledge allegiance even before they know what ‘pledge’ and ‘allegiance’ means….Of course, it’s up to you,” Captain Black pointed out. “Nobody’s trying to pressure you. But everyone else is making them sign loyalty oaths, and it’s going to look mighty funny to the F.B.I. if you are the only ones who don’t care enough about your country to sign loyalty oaths.”

Captain Black, Catch-22, Joseph Heller author

It is tempting to laugh at democrats and liberal assholes. The problem is that they are serious.