Arlo (the Pol Pot-loving puppy killer) said:
... since Platt is simply doling out more "fear rhetoic", let me remind here
that the "dictator's first move" has historically been to vilify the Academy
and marginalize the media. Hitler's effectiveness in attaining power stemmed
directly from his two-front vilification... Let's also remember that the
"dictator's first move" also always includes the condemnation of criticism
to the regime as "unpatriotic" and "treasonous". Those who would condemn the
dictator would be branded as "aiding and abetting the enemy", vilified as
traitors and enemies of freedom. So, yes, let's consider these "frightening
wishes remindful of a dictator's first move".
dmb says:
Exactly. The use of these tatics by Hitler is a fact of history and we see
the same thing happening right now in the USA. It is less overt and it is
being conducted in english instead of german, but otherwise it is the same
anti-intellectual, patriotism-as-conformity, racist, red-baiting, xenophobic
bullshit. Not to mention the incoherent nonsense these reactionaries spew
about "freedom", such as the recent talk-radio complaints about the
"fairness doctrine". This "doctrine" doesn't limit anyone's speech. It only
asks that broadcast time be given to an opposed point of view or, in other
words, it only asks that nobody's view be immune to a challenge or a reply.
Its about protecting intellectual freedom and fostering intellectual
quality. I think that opposition to the "fairness doctrine" is an
anti-intellectual position. Platt's opposition to it does not surprise me.
Nor am I surprised by his defense of American liberty by way of the
so-called free market. It's soo,oh,oh typical of today's American fascists.
Here are two Pirsig quotes, one from Lila and one recently posted by Ant
from his textbook....
"Communism and socialism, programs for intellectual control over society,
were confronted by the reactionary forces of fascism, a program for the
social control of intellect. ...The gigantic power of socialism and fascism
...is explained by a conflict of levels of evolution. This onflict explains
the drivin force behind Hitler not as an insane search for power but as an
all consuming glorification of social authority and hatred of
intellectualism. His anti-Semitism was fueled by anti-intellectualism. His
hatred of communists was fueled by anti-intellectualism. His exaltation of
the German volk was fueled by it."
"In the MOQ making money is a social activity that should not dominate the
higher intellectual goal of truth, or interfere with perception and pursuit
of Dynamic Quality."
Dr. McCommielover replied to the puppy killer:
This is one of the things that especially concerns me with Platt, his nearly
complete uncritical acceptance of the status quos dominating viewpoint. If
he lived in a similar social position in Nazi Germany, Communist Russia or
Taliban Afghanistan, he would no doubt be taking the party lines found there
without question and especially the anti-academic line found in all these
socially dominated societies. ...keeping in mind Platts recommendation
that you should visit the Holocaust Memorial, I suggest that it would be
more constructive if, instead, he (as a neo-con supporter) visited the
similar memorials in Chile or Vietnam.
Mr. Commiekiller McPuppylover (Just to balance things out) adds:
Exactly. Its strange how he parrots talk-radio and loves the law and order
stuff, especially considering the way outcasts and contrarians play the hero
in Pirsig's books. Pirsig is anything but an advocate of conformity. As
Emerson said in THE AMERICAN SCHOLAR in 1837, "Imitation is suicide". (Guess
what we're reading in my Pragmatism class.) He says, "the self-directed"
must "defer never to the popular cry" and live in a "state of virtual
hostility" to society. This struck me as very similar to the MOQ's portrait
of the clash of social and intellectual values but he also seems to express
the idea the Dynamic Quality is better than either of those. And that's what
I wanted to add.
Emerson's piece does far more than make a case for good, independent
American scholarship. He looks more like a mystic to me and in the portrait
he paints of the scholar he asks the intellectual to be a saint, an
enlightened person, a genuine and authentic person, an artist and an
original thinker. I was quite humbled and astonished by it. He says, "The
one thing in the world, of value, is the active soul." The sort of creative
genius, he says, "is the sound estate of every man, In its essence it is
progressive. ...springing spontaneous from the mind's own sense of good and
fair." (Need we ask anyone, Phaedrus?) "In the right state he is Man
Thinking. In the degenerate state ...a mere thinker, or still worse, the
parrot of other men's thinking." (Yes, i see the irony in quoting that.)
Books, he says, "are for nothing but to inspire". "Undoubtedly there is a
right way of reading, so it be sternly subordinated. Man Thinking must not
be subdued by his instruments." This is the sort of stuff that made him
sound like a mystic and he touts Swedenborg (Named in Lila as a mystic) at
the end of he piece, which would support the notion too.
Following up on this hunch, I discovered this piece was written just before
he started reading the Vedas and other Eastern texts. Maybe his later stuff
reflects that and is even closer to the MOQ. We're reading Emerson as a sort
of proto-Pragmatist. He looks like a pragmatist and he influenced William
James especially. Henry James, the father of William, was also a
Swedenborgian. I guess that had some influence on him too.
On Feb 29th, 1860 they all met at a secret meeting and agreed that slavery
had to be abolished. They all agreed with the popular motto of the day, "we
should fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here", even
though it didn't make much sense on the eve of the civil war. They also
agreed that we should support our troops by shopping as often as possible.
Each of them named Jesus as their favorite philosopher. Why? Their belief in
healing miracles allowed them to oppose socialized medicine. In fact, they
often intentionally misquoted him as saying "let the children suffer"
instead of "suffer the children". "No cash value", William would sometimes
add. Then they'd laugh their pragmatic heads off. That's what Platt said he
got from Wikipedia, anyway.
Thanks,
dmb
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