I don't know how the idea that I'm anti-intellectual got started. I might be a bit anti-academic because I see the same problems that I quoted from ZAMM - the system of authority tends to warp the professors and turn what SHOULD be an intellectual debate into a social kiss-ass party. If you guys all think that Pirsig's problems with the church of reason have just disappeared, then give me some evidence but don't accuse me of anti-intellectualism just because I follow Pirsig's teaching in ZAMM.
"Schools teach you to imitate. If you don’t imitate what the teacher wants you get a bad grade. Here, in college, it was more sophisticated, of course; you were supposed to imitate the teacher in such a way as to convince the teacher you were not imitating, but taking the essence of the instruction and going ahead with it on your own. That got you A’s. Originality on the other hand could get you anything...from A to F. The whole grading system cautioned against it" Likewise, I seem to get pounded a lot by dmb and his supporters - Ant and Ron, for my own personal ideas about the MoQ - I get consistent F's (as if F you John) Whereas if I simply repeated the MoQ, (no, make that the MOQ) I'd probably get A's, as in Attaboy John. Does anybody else see this disconnect between the teachings of Quality, as presented by Pirsig in the actual texts, and the practice of Quality on this forum? Either I'm a lone crazy, or anybody with any spine has already been driven away. Then there's the quote I already posted: "The Church of Reason, like all institutions of the System, is based not on individual strength but upon individual weakness. What's really demanded in the Church of Reason is not ability, but inability. Then you are considered teachable. A truly able person is always a threat. Phædrus sees that he has thrown away a chance to integrate himself into the organization by submitting to whatever Aristotelian thing he is supposed to submit to. But that kind of opportunity seems hardly worth the bowing and scraping and intellectual prostration necessary to maintain it. It is a low-quality form of life." I don't know what to add to that. It seems pretty self-explanatory to me. DmB may think I'm arrogant to assert myself as a "truly able person", especially intellectually but I've had enough kudos in my life from people who I really do respect, to know that I am. This doesn't mean every word I utter is a golden pearl of wisdom. Heck, I'm hammering it out here, day by day, trying to do my best and supporting the MD which I see as needing more involvement, not less. Maybe the problem is bigger than I realize. Maybe things get discussed, but nothing every changes. That is, a problem space doesn't become a solution space, simply through application of head-knowledge. Ya gotta have some heart. "But Phædrus doesn’t hear the lecture. His mind races on and on, through the permutations of the dialectic, on and on, hitting things, finding new branches and sub-branches, exploding with anger at each new discovery of the viciousness and meanness and lowness of this "art" called dialectic. The Professor, looking at his expression, becomes quite alarmed, and continues the lecture in a kind of panic. Phædrus’mind races on and on and then on further, seeing now at last a kind of evil thing, an evil deeply entrenched in himself, which pretends to try to understand love and beauty and truth and wisdom but whose real purpose is never to understand them, whose real purpose is always to usurp them and enthrone itself. Dialectic...the usurper. That is what he sees. The parvenu, muscling in on all that is Good and seeking to contain it and control it. Evil. The Professor calls the lecture to an early end and leaves the room hurriedly" 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/md/archives.html
