Hi Steve, > Platt: > > Pirsig spends some time describing the influence of celebrities > > on society, calling it " ,,, an organizing force of the whole > > social level > > of evolution." (Lila, 20). Because politics is essentially a > > social level > > phenomenon, celebrity influence is to be expected. While scientists > > have > > little public celebrity influence compared to Oprah, they play a > > central > > role behind the scenes in such politically-charged matters as > > economics, > > energy, and national defense. Not so behind-the-scenes is the current > > politics of "global warming" whose advocates constantly refer to > > "scientific consensus" as if that somehow constitutes absolute proof. > > Steve: > In the MOQ, the test for truth includes logical coherence and > consistence with experience. In MOQ understanding I don't think > "absolute proof" is ever a reasonable expectation. I also have never > heard anyone say that they have absolute proof of global warming and > I don't see how the immorality of social control over intellect > applies here. > > However, I did just hear about such a situation concerning global > warming and the Bush administration's attempts to suppress NASA > scientists from talking about it publically on NPR. > > Please see... > http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17926941 > > Would you agree that the Bush administration behaved immorally in > this case according to the MOQ?
[Platt] Looks like straw man set up to me. To state or imply that advocates of global warming have been censored is absurd. Al Gore's propaganda on the subject is even required viewing in many schools to a captive audiences of uncritical children. So no, the Bush administration has not behaved immorally in this case according to the MOQ. No administration has a duty to provide a one-sided platform for controversial views. The demands of intellect requres that all sides on an issue of national importance be heard. If anything, the opponents of global warming have had their voices immorally smothered by the media with proponents even going so far as to claim the issue is "settled." That's about as close to a claim of absolute truth as you can get. 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/
