Hey John, What is "communal action?" Is that anything like community organizing?
Speaking of "egoistic selfish desires," Mother Theresa was a shining example. What she did filled her heart with joy. Your friend, Platt On Tue, Dec 15, 2009 at 1:04 PM, John Carl <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > "My personal feeling is that this is how any further improvement of the > > world will be done: by individuals making Quality decisions and that´s > all. > > > > Well personal feelings aside, we know intellectually that the only way the > world ever improves is by communal action. There isn't a darn thing that > changes when one lone individual makes Quality decisions, unless those > decisions redirect a social relationship towards Quality. The society can > be quite small, but world-class improvements have to be performed by > world-class societies. > > > > > God, I don´t want to have any more enthusiasm for big programs full of > > social planning for big masses of people that leave individual Quality > > out. > > > Yeah, me neither. But sometimes you can't help yourself. Enthusiasm > bubbles up from beyond, evidently. Where does enthusiasm come from? Same > place as hypothesis's I guess, and over which we have as little control. > > > > > These can be left alone for a while. > > > Great, sure. you bet. How long? Forever and ever? I mean, this was > written when? I remember there was a lot of this enthusiasm floating > around > back in the 70's for big social programs, mostly leading nowhere. So does > that mean we can just do away with it completely? Because it seems to me, > Mr. Pirsig, that since those days your individualistic stance has gained > wide hold, and the concommitant drop in communal interaction has just > driven > people to ever more isolation and getting their cultural needs met through > mediated-techno placebos which makes 'em more isolated, which drives them > more inward, which.... > > > > > There´s a place for them > > > > I definitely agree! > > > > > but > > they´ve got to be built on a foundation of Quality within the individuals > > involved. > > > > I agree there too. But since that is an individualistic effort - Quality > within individuals involved - it makes the whole thing hopeless because of > the problems I outlined above. I mean, I'm perfectly content to stand back > and let individuals evolve their own Quality. But the dark powers in > charge > seem to want to degrade individuals in order to get them ignorant and > pliable and fond of McDonalds and happy in WalMart. So the bad guys > recruit > and the good guys shut up. How long do you think this pattern can continue > before we're all totally screwed? > > > > > We´ve had that individual Quality in the past, exploited it as a > > natural resource without knowing it, and now it´s just about depleted. > > Everyone´s just about out of gumption. And I think it´s about time to > > return to the rebuilding of this American resource...individual worth. > > > > > There used to be a great pride in the basis of morality for capitalism. > Our > enemy,the godless communists, failed, we claimed, through exactly this > means of moral superiority. Adam Smith's theories only work when populated > by moral people. Morals were our strength, and you'd think a book that > enquired into them would be a valuable resource, but unfortunately, Rigel > had a point when he claimed that freeing up people to think about their > morals and choose them has had some surprisingly negative effects. Mostly > what they decide makes a Quality decision, is that which rewards the > egoistic selfish desires. > > I don't blame ZAMM for that movement, I blame the social media (tv) not the > intellectual (books). > > > > > > There are political reactionaries who´ve been saying something close to > > this for years. I´m not one of them, but to the extent they´re talking > > about > > real individual worth and not just an excuse for giving more money to > > the rich, they´re right. We do need a return to individual integrity, > self- > > reliance and old-fashioned gumption. We really do." > > > > > This gumption and real individual worth are created by interaction with > community - a social context and by stories told to the young. > > The current generation has been given over to central programming from > birth, and since this generation can't even imagine the world you and I are > old enough to remember, and since this generation is suckled at an > electronic teat that has NO motivation for teaching self-reliance, > integrity > or gumption, (who'd buy cosmetics for men if we did that?) I'd say we need > new words to help us in our crucial hour. > > > > "Self-reliance." Not a word you often hear from the ruling elite > > (Hollywood, politicians, academics and the major media) these days. > > > > Platt > > > There ya go. Platt's got it exactly right. Just add in big business > board rooms as part of the evil consortium, and you've got the whole > picture. If you describe Liberal and Conservative, I see a two-headed > giant that every time one is attacked, the other just gets stronger and > the giant gets bigger. > > John Carl the fan of the Grinch > 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/ > 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/
