Sunday, June 13, 2010

TRIVIA BITS … CATCH 22

TRIVIA BITS …

CATCH 22

catch22_cover

"Catch 22" has come to mean a problematic situation for which the only solution is denied by a circumstance inherent in the problem.

The original "Catch-22," in Joseph Heller's 1961 novel of the same name, is the catch that prevents a US Air Force pilot in World War II from asking to be grounded on the basis of insanity. The pilot knows that military regulations permit insane pilots to be grounded and not forced to fly further dangerous bombing missions. However, the regulation prevents airmen from escaping bombing missions by pleading insanity by stating that any airman rational enough to WANT to be grounded cannot possibly be insane and therefore is fit to fly.

From the novel: a man "would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to: but if he didn't he was sane and had to."

No comments:

Post a Comment