Radar O'Reilly has psychic powers

Listen, Klinger, you're not crazy. I'm not? Really? You're a tribute to man's endurance. A monument to hope in size twelve pumps.

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A MASH fan on Reddit hiked to the 4077th site in Malibu and met Mike Farrell!!!

I really like this as a character beat for BJ. I think it makes sense. According to him (and there is no reason not to believe him), he and Peg planned for her to stay home and raise Erin. They wanted that for Erin. Even if you question what societal assumptions influenced this decision (which I do), it's clear that BJ is motivated by what he thinks is best for the daughter he loves. This is also an area where the signature MASH timeline can really affect things, because leaving a toddler at home to work is different than leaving an infant. He also mentions that Peg worked to put him through med school and he sees this as returning the favor and it bothers him that he can't do it. He also consistently struggles with the twin fears of his family suffering because he's not there for them and his family not needing him. He definitely sees it as his job to provide for them. That's because he loves them, but it's also extremely wrapped up in his middle class suburban WASP background. Which even comes up in that same episode because he's upset about Peg serving their friends!

The problem is that being upset that his wife is working is a very privileged, sheltered attitude. Even in the 50s, most women worked in one way or another. The housewife image was only ever reality for a particular socioeconomic class. I think class blindness is BJ's most fascinating flaw. I'm really interested in it! Especially when he interacts with Hawkeye who (per the later seasons) was raised by a physician father and thus probably relatively secure, but nevertheless grew up in rural Maine, Radar who is from a poor farm family, and Klinger who is from a poor urban immigrant family. Even Potter and Mulcahy are implied to have grown up without a ton of wealth and Frank's money is implied to come from his wife. As an Army brat, Margaret is more complicated, but her mother was an Army nurse so even she grew up around working women. In many ways BJ is closest to Charles, though there is still a large gulf between them.