[Platt to Ron] Communism and fascism are alike because they place the interests of the state (social pattern) above the individual (intellectual pattern). Thus, communism, fascism and all political philosophies exalting the state (the collective) are immoral.
[Arlo] No. According to the MOQ, socialism is immoral because it "closes the door to Dynamic Quality". "But what the socialists left out and what has all but killed their whole undertaking is an absence of indefinite Dynamic Quality." So the problem with communism/socialism is NOT the valuing of the "state" over the "individual", but the closing within the system to DQ. Fascism, on the other hand, IS the anti-intellectual subversion of intellect to society. "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." (LILA) Both of these were immoral, but immoral for different reasons. The former for closing off evolution to DQ, the latter for subverting intellectual patterns to social patterns. Pirsig continues, "Nowhere were the intellectuals more intense in their determination to overthrow the old order (socialism). Nowhere did the old order become more intent on finding ways to destroy the excesses of the new intellectualism (fascism)." Thus, for Pirsig, the primary qualifiers of fascism are anti-intellectualism and an adherence to "the old order". Socialism, on the other hand, embraces "intellectualism", but its problem has been the embracing of a S/O intellectualism, and intellectualism that left "no provision for morals". And if we are truly to understand the conflicts we face in the coming years, it is this understanding of the tensions between anti-intellectual, regressive fascism that seeks to cling to the "old order" and a socialism that is moving forward guided by a valueless metaphysics. 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/
