Hi Ron, > Hello Platt, > A very thoughtful post .
Whatever thoughtfulness it contains belongs to Pirsig. > However I ask, how are we to make the > distinction > from "an excuse for oppression through fear (central planning enforced at > the point of a gun)."? > How do we instill pro-social ethic without oppressing the individual? I think you've put your finger on the great, swirling political debate of our time -- individual freedom vs. social order. IMO the default position is individual freedom, supported by the MOQ. > I think we can not expect to fix this problem quickly because it evolved > over a long period of time. America allowed a culture of oppression to > develop > a culture in opposition to "the man" (central planning enforced at the > point of a gun). > Even today I hear older whites reffering to blacks who conform to social > standards > as a "good nigger". > Remember slavery was abolished about 150 yrs ago in the U.S. and civil > rights > in the last 50, I would think it would be difficult break from subcultural > values > of anti-establishment after hundreds of years of development. If you do > conform you are called an "uncle Tom" by your peers. > Yes the charge of racism is abused but most black people I > know see this as justified in defense of the more general racist > atitudes > of white america. > I think it is idealistic to think that the MoQ would provide a quick fix > to these problems developed over centuries. If anything MoQ > helps us to realize that the fix requires changes in values and > attitudes > over long periods of time from all parties. > -Ron Agree. But in regards to racism, giant steps to deflect it have occurred over the past 50 years, culminating with the election of a black man as president. Pirsig provides a philosophic basis to Martin Luther King's view that we should judge a person not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. Platt > ________________________________ > From: Platt Holden <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tuesday, January 6, 2009 7:23:50 AM > Subject: Re: [MD] Multiculturalism scam > > All: > > Pirsig pretty well pinpointed the problem with the multiculturism in > recounting his conversation with a professor at the University of > Chicago: > > "Phaedrus remembered a conversation in the early sixties with a University > of Chicago faculty member who was moving out of the Woodlawn neighborhood > next to the university. He was moving because criminal blacks had moved in > and it had become too dangerous to live there. Phaedrus had said he didn't > think moving out was any solution. > > "The professor had blown up at him. "What you don't know!" he had said. > "We've tried everything! We've tried workshops, study groups, councils. > We've spent years in this. If there's anything we've missed we don't know > what it is. Everything has failed." > > "The professor added, "You don't understand what a defeat this has been > for > us. It's as though we never even tried." > > "Phaedrus had had no answer at the time, but he had one now. The idea that > biological crimes can be ended by intellect alone, that you can talk crime > to death, doesn't work. Intellectual patterns cannot directly control > biological patterns. Only social patterns can control biological patterns, > and the instrument of conversation between society and biology is not > words. The instrument of conversation between society and biology has > always been a policeman or a soldier and his gun. All the laws of history, > all the arguments, all the Constitutions and the Bills of Rights and > Declarations of Independence are nothing more than instructions to the > military and police. If the military and police can't or don't follow > these > instructions properly they might as well have never been written. > > "Phaedrus now thought that part of the professors paralysis was a > commitment to the twentieth-century intellectual doctrines, in which his > university has had a prominent role. (Multiculturism) A second part of the > paralysis probably came from the fact that the criminals were black. If it > had been a group of trash whites moving into the neighborhood, robbing and > raping and killing, the response would have been much fiercer, but when > whites denounced blacks for robbing and raping and killing they left > themselves open to the charge of racism. In the atmosphere of public > opinion of that time no intellectual dared to open himself to the charge > of > being a racist. Just the thought of it shut him up tight. Paralysis. > > "That charge is part of the paralysis of this city here. Right now." > (Lila, > 24 -- Parens added. > > Similar charges are flung today at anyone who challenges leftist > doctrines, > as some recent posts on this site amply illustrate. > > Platt 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/
