by Jakabones January 14, 2006
by Shawn B. June 15, 2003
The only way to be dismissed from the military is to be crazy and to ask to be dismissed. Catch-22 states that if you ask to be dismissed from the military, you are not crazy. Catch-22 meant so much more than that, it was the excuse used for every insane order that the officers would give to the troops, was used for every justification. The best definition of Catch-22 is what the old women told Yossarian when he returned to Italy to search for Nately's whore. She told him MPs had come into the whorehouse and arrested everyone, and as justification they had used Catch-22. She then said "Catch-22 means they are allowed to do anything that you can't stop them from doing." There are not 21 other catches, Catch-22 is the only catch that is ever needed.
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind... If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to.
by anon November 05, 2004
In layman's terms it pretty much means "Damned if you do and damned if you don't" either way you're gonna get screwed.
Season 3, Episode 17: Catch-22
In the ABC TV show "Lost"by J.J. Abrams
Desmond can see the future and his latest vision suggests that his girlfriend Penny will crash-land onto the island. The vision also suggests that Charlie will die if he comes along with Desmond to rescue her, but Charlie must come along to make the vision come true.
(Season Three: Original Air Date: 18 April 2007)
In the ABC TV show "Lost"by J.J. Abrams
Desmond can see the future and his latest vision suggests that his girlfriend Penny will crash-land onto the island. The vision also suggests that Charlie will die if he comes along with Desmond to rescue her, but Charlie must come along to make the vision come true.
(Season Three: Original Air Date: 18 April 2007)
by bubblybug May 08, 2007
by SMD111 July 12, 2017
A "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation, where there is no right choice. See: Kobayashi Maru.
Being White is a Catch-22. If you participate in a different culture, that's cultural appropriation... but if you don't, you're not being inclusive. If you move into an urban area, you're part of the gentrification problem... but if you move out of an urban area, you're part of the "white flight" problem. If you don't pay attention to skin color, you're ignoring racism... but if you do, you're racist. There is no right choice.
by Straight White Homeschooling D December 04, 2020