Even Paul Schrader—in regard to Travis Bickle—slightly invests in this type of character Tom Foolery by suggesting Travis is a Vietnam veteran, and that he did a tour of duty during the war. Horseshit. No fucking way was Travis in Vietnam. The extent of Travis’ paranoia of black males is only credible if they are an other that he has only had superficial contact with. How do you do a tour of duty in Vietnam and only have superficial contact with black dudes? The answer is you can’t. Okay, say he did serve with black dudes in Vietnam, does that mean he has to like ’em? No, not necessarily. But
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