The stumbling block will turn out to be the traditional one for students of consciousness: the flashlight is incapable of shining on itself, so we ca… - Jonathan Lethem

He’s just a classic scapegoat, told people things they didn’t want to hear. There’s never any percentage in being ahead of your time.

Go buy milk,' Robert said at last.
Dylan moved for Buggy's door.
But if ou come around here with that old lady's money next time I might have to take it off you.'
Dylan recognized this as a sort of philosophical using. He was grateful for the implied sense of pooled information. He and Robert could move forward together from this point into whatever was required.

Nobody said anything while I opened the bag and took out the egg salad sandwich. It was one of those funny moments when a bit of normal human activity embarrasses everybody out of their bluster and hostility, and roles are momentarily laid aside.