Quoting Steve Peterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > >> Like you, I don't assume that these responsibilities of society > >> equate to > >> responsibilities of government. (Note that these responsibilities > >> of society > >> translate into the rights of its citizens and then back into > >> duties of > >> citizens to use intellect to support social patterns that provide > >> for these > >> things.) These responsibilities of society are also those of > >> parents to > >> children, husbands and wives to one another, and probably every > >> other social > >> role we can think of. > > > > Yes, we agree. > > > > and Pirsig seems to agree as well... > "My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of > the world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and > that's all. God, I don't want to have any more enthusiasm for big > programs full of social planning for big masses of people that leave > individual Quality out. These can be left alone for a while. There's > a place for them but they've got to be built on a foundation of > Quality within the individuals involved. We've had that individual > Quality in the past, exploited it as a natural resource without > knowing it, and now it's just about depleted. Everyone's just about > out of gumption. And I think it's about time to return to the > rebuilding of this American resource...individual worth. There are > political reactionaries who've been saying something close to this > for years. I'm not one of them, but to the extent they're talking > about real individual worth and not just an excuse for giving more > money to the rich, they're right. We do need a return to individual > integrity, self-reliance and old-fashioned gumption. We really do. I > hope that in this Chautauqua some directions have been pointed to." > ZAMM part 4
Thanks for reminding us of this from Pirsig. I will cut it out and pin it to my studio bulletin board as a constant reminder of the worth and moral superiority of the individual vs. the social level collective. > >> Both sides should give the other side credit for seeking to create > >> a better > >> society based on the these responsibilities. > > > > The rode to hell is paved with good intentions. So I don't think > > giving > > credit gets us very far. > Steve: > I don't think vilifying gets us far either. In fact, I think its gets > in the way. We agree. But those who vilify can expect to be vilified in return. It's not a one way street. Pacifism rarely engenders peace but rather encourages the oppressor. Regards, Platt ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
