Sorry for me being late, but I had some computer issues forcing me
to send it to a workshop to get it repaired, but I am back now to finish the
blog about Catch-22. This time I will talk... Well, write about how Catch-22 could
be related to certain political, economic and historical topics.
Catch-22 is a brilliant work of writing
and the way it describes the bloodiest, most gruesome war in history in a
satirical way is nothing but pure genius. It reflects very well on how the
military's rules and doctrines can be a spider web that almost everybody will somehow
get tangled in when they enlist. It brings you into the mind of the soldiers,
how the different regulations effect their daily lives in the camp. You can see
the similarities with certain governments *cough* America *cough*. If you have
not read the book, or simply cannot see the comparison, then I will explain it
a bit further for you. I just wrote a little bit, about how you could get
tangled into the web of rules, doctrines and regulations in Yossarian's camp.
It's the same with politics, you could easily get tangled into a web of, let's
say financial backers during a presidential campaign, a campaign cost a lot of
money, therefore you will probably need several backers, so you promise them to
change certain rules, or give them a tax-break. Then you enter the white house,
and realize that you cannot really do what you promised them to do. Mostly due
to the messy web of rules and regulations, that is gridlock and checks & balances.
Another huge web of outdated rules that will limit you in every
direction.
Another topic that caught my eye was that
of greed, here i want to bring in the character Milo Minderbinder, which would
obviously be the representative for this topic, although he is not alone with
having an excessive ambition for power, which is another type of greed. Milo
the black-market mess officer and a corrupt entrepreneur manipulates his way
into directing his own little crime syndicate which he calls "M & M
Enterprises". His greed knows no bounds, seen when he purchased the entire
Egyptian cotton crop he ran out of money. Desperately he turns to the enemy and
hires them to bomb the base at Pianosa. While Milo claims that he is not alone
in owning M & M Enterprises, he is the only one to receive a dividend from
it in any way. Overreaching one of the typical traits of a greedy man that does
not know where the line goes. The same kind of greed is alive in plenty of
corporations all around the world, for the sake of keeping within the U.S
borders I will bring to light a certain pharmaceutical company CEO that raised
prices for a drug with 5000%. Martin Shkreli, the CEO of Turin Pharmaceuticals
raised the price of a drug from 13.5 to 750 dollars overnight. Corporate money
hungry scum... Just like Milo though, he overreached, sure he made tons of
money, due to the internet's outrage almost everybody knows who he is and what
he did, Which lead to him later resigning as CEO due to his run ins with the
federal police and all around bad reputation.
Third topic is the historical aspect, and I
will be short in this one, as I have mentioned it in another blog post earlier,
the futility of the war. We now know just how idiotic the Second World War was,
and how it could have “easily” been stopped early on, with so many deaths and
destruction I dare say nothing good came out of it. This is how Yossarian felt
during the war, the uselessness, the idiocy. All for the end, which brought
nothing to those in the war. Well, possibly some greedy CEO's of the weapons
and ammunition companies earned tons, but that is back to greed again.
Thanks for listening... no, reading my
little rant about the book. I will see you all again really soon!
-Mikkel
Some sources regarding Martin Shkreli
http://wonkette.com/594159/douchebag-pharma-ceo-raises-drug-price-5000-because-screw-your-sick-baby
http://gothamist.com/2015/12/18/martin_shkreli_resigns.php
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