I'm a little disappointed to see you write those things, Steve. I remember many of our conversations in the past, and I wouldn't have taken you to be, I don't know, narrow-sighted.
Personally, I find Caryl to be quite personable and willing to discuss things. She just never found her way around to moq.org. And many people do seem to find "blogging" narcissistic, but how is keeping a record of your own thoughts much different than Pirsig's elaborate mythologizing of his life, the one we call ZMM? Was Emerson narcissistic? Absolutely--but was that a fault or should we be glad that he was? I think people forget sometimes that occasionally, to hold a good conversation, you have to have some time to yourself to, as they say, "compose yourself." I think being alone with your own thoughts is sometimes the best thing for them. And then sometimes, outside stimulation is needed, too. I think Pirsig's own texts bare out that relationship. Now, mind you, Caryl is no proof that Bo is right. Bo is, as usual, awkward in his rhetorical claims. I usually just cough and whistle while looking up when weird, extravagant claims like those are made, by Bo or anyone else for that matter. But really--must we MDers always be knocking those who are not directly and currently talking to us, be they contemporary philosophers, bloggers, or other MDers? Why not just get on with talking to or about whomever you want, whether they're talkin' back or not? Why must we continue this trend of disaffected bitterness that I think Pirsig accidentally started? Or, maybe I'm just narcissistic enough to think that that was a veiled jab in my direction. I have to confess--I always think the song is about me. Matt p.s. Ashkay--I think you're missing the hidden potential of these "blogs": they're really just free, easy to use formats that allow you to put onto the web your writings. At least, that's the way I use mine (and Paul Turner used his). I wish more people at the MD would use the format. Personally, the reason I don't engage much around here anymore is because I'm looking for extended thoughts arranged in interesting patterns, which is the kind of thing that this format is not engineered for. The MD is great for immediate feedback and a certain level of rapid intellectual activity. But I find myself wanting to see more solo performance from any of the particular participants I see as promising, and that requires more room than a post. I tried for years to spark activity in moq.org's Essay Forum for that exact reason. > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2008 12:33:23 -0500 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: Re: [MD] mindless metaphysics > > Hi Bo, > >> MOQers! >> >> 19 January DMB commented a passage from Caryl Johnstone's essay >> that Ron had commented, but first the said passage. >> >> "the only pragmatist element I see in the Metaphysics of >> Quality is Pirsig's desire and intention to get to real life - >> to get >> to "the stuffy, hot-ground floor of life as soon as possible" as >> Matt poetically puts it. But the actual tool of thought which the >> concept of Quality provides is miles away from pragmatism. >> >> So much for DMB's idolization of William James as an even greater >> MOQist than Pirsig himself. > > > Steve: > Who is Caryl Johnstone? Why is her not being able to see pragmatism > proof that DMB is wrong? Why is she not defending her claim? > > I have heard of her Blog and I invited her to discuss Pirsig with us > at moq.org. Apparently she prefers to publish her thoughts and allow > for "comments" than participate in rational discourse. > > Certain people's preferences to maintain a blog instead of having a > real discussion seems narcissistic to me. Come to think of it, why > aren't more of you guys doing it? > > Regards, > Steve > > 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/ _________________________________________________________________ Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live. http://www.windowslive.com/share.html?ocid=TXT_TAGHM_Wave2_sharelife_012008 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/
