Ian shared his latest poem:
Dave said "anti-intellectualism"
Ian says "straw-man"
Dave also said "sort of"
Dennett says "sorta"
Ian says "kinda"
Ian concludes "progress".
dmb says;
I honestly have no idea what you're saying here with the sort of, sorta, kinda.
And I'm curious to know how Dennett got involved. But I want to make one point
anyway.
A "straw man" is an easily defeated position set up only to be knocked down
and, more importantly, a "straw man" has a flimsy and fictional position that
is held by no actual person. It's a cheap facsimile that could only fool a
bird. And you know what they say about bird brains.
Anti-intellectualism, on the other hand, is quite real. It has a long history.
It is a central feature of fascist regimes and has found many various
expression in American history. To dismiss such a concern as a bogus debating
tactic is to ignore many pages of Pirsig's work, whole chapters even.
If there is a good reason to think the criticism is unfounded, that's one
thing. But anti-intellectualism is one of the most salient features of the
conflict between social and intellectual values, personally, culturally and
politically. If you have something intelligent to say about that, Ian, I'd be
glad to hear it. But I think your drive-by arguments aren't hitting any targets
and they're very unbecoming to you.
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