Craig, I think the film did serve a moral purpose in that it analyzed intellectually a social pattern.
Any number of social patterns are willing to compete and struggle for the higher dominance positions - as you point out. But not that many are willing to do so objectively, free of their own self-interest in this struggle. I thought the documentary was pretty fair-minded in the way it showed the evolution of the elites, where they come from and how they maintain, without being as totally condemnatory as say, a Michael Moore film. > > > In any normal bell- shaped distribution (e.g., power, wealth, > status, celebrity, sex), > there will always be a small number o f people at the far right end. > Sometimes the same person is at multiple, far right ends (e.g., Tiger > Woods). > But "The American Ruling Class" mockumentary missed the 2 most important > points: > 1) Does the "ruling class" protect its members against other s? > > 2) Is there less diversity of opinion on controversial issues among the > "ruling class" than other classes? > The main question of the film was "Is there a ruling class and how do I join?" The answers provided by the various members interviewed seemed to me to answer your first question affirmatively. The social networks of the eastern Establishment (didya catch the Lila congruence on that one?) continue to perpetuate their patterns by recruiting from within the ranks. How is that not protecting it's membership?. And on question 2, I'd also disagree because I don't see dialectical opposition as diversity. You divide into to two parties, for and against, and then struggle to get your side to win. That's not diversity. Diversity comes with quality analysis, which often sees the middle way, or even a complete "outside the box" solution. Hmm... this brings up a thought. I wonder if one reason Pirsig's Quality insight never caught on with this power elite, is exactly because he went outside the box - avoided the two-horned dilemma, and thus nobody saw him as "on our side" and thus could be conveniently dismissed by all. > > Craig > PS There are only 3 kinds of people: those who count & those who care. > > There are actually only two kinds of people: Those who think there are two kinds of people, and those (me and bob) who disagree. John 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/
