From the earliest points in the book we see Major Major's lighthearted and ridiculous situation show us the incompetence of this system. His mediocrity allows him to thrive as well as thoroughly incapacitate it, such as when he figures out that signing a document with the name Washington Irving causes it to not return for further review. Major continues to do this, and easily gets away with his incredibly ill-conceived ploy. This is a clear message from Heller about the incompetency and gullibility of government. Perhaps one of the most extreme uses of absurdity to demonstrate this point is with the unbelievable Colonel Cathcart. Cathcart is obsessed with getting his picture into the Saturday Evening Post, so he instructs the chaplain to hold prayer sessions before every mission. He also raises the minimum number of mission continuously so that it looks like his men are working hard and that he is a successful general. Again, the comedy serves as a message: the Bureaucratic system is incompetent. Cathcart's absurd demands for a photogenic prayer session with only 'happy prayers' and 'nothing that refers to religion at all' cause him to eventually abandon the idea completely. The continuously rising number of missions causes extremely low morale, enthusiasm, and effectiveness. It eventually fully backfires with events of mutiny and abandonment, like Orr's escape Yossarian's final decision to not support him and others, influenced mainly by his anger over this decision. .
Heller also uses absurdity as a message about society. Throughout the book, the Italians on the mainland and the low-level men stationed on the island of Pianosa are often victims of the actions of others more influential and powerful than them, regardless of whether or not their actions provoked them. The old Italian man and prostitute are killed by the orders of selfish commanders, a maid is raped and killed by Aarfy, Milo bombs his own airbase on Pianosa; this injustice is coming from a concentrated few.