Quoting david buchanan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>:
> 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. Guess DMB didn't read the study that shows the media is biased towards the left. > Not to mention the incoherent nonsense these reactionaries spew > about "freedom", such as the recent talk-radio complaints about the > "fairness doctrine". Nothing more reactionary than the leftist wish to return to an earlier time when there weren't so many people on the earth to pollute everything. > 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. When government imposes the "fairness doctrine" on government supported universities, then let's talk about "protecting intellectual freedom." > 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. Yes, the left would love to do away with capitalism and the free market. > 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." The left's non-support of Israel, blaming it for the problems in the mid-East, is right out of Hitler's playbook. > "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." In fact, Pirsig praises the free market system as best suited to pursue 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. Ignoring completely Platt's often repeated support of individual freedom. > 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. What is he talking about? Or, what is he smoking? 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