From: Scott Roberts (jse885@cox.net)
Date: Sun Aug 07 2005 - 02:55:30 BST
Mark SH,
You don't seem to be realizing that I am not disputing your political
arguments. I don't agree with all of them, but I'm not inclined to engage in
argument over them. So let's cut to the personal stuff.
msh:
Your point about a good standard of living is interesting. The
problem is that this good standard comes at the expense of most of
the world's population. The fact that the people enjoying the good
standard are unaware of this says a lot about the domination of
information in this country, and a lot about the people who are not
so ill-informed but who nevertheless remain silent.
And, BTW, how does this infatuation with consumerism square with your
ideas about driving away one's ego? Just curious.
Scott:
I think excessive consumerism is bad. But the excessive consumers are going
to have to realize that for themselves.
scott prev:
So if you really want to defeat all those imperialists, encourage
people to be true Christians and Buddhists, simple-living
enthusiasts, and so forth.
msh 08-06-05:
That might help, as long as they act rather than self-immolate or sit
around waiting for Judgement Day. Why not just encourage them to get
in touch with their own sense of humanity?
Scott:
That's what Christianity and Buddhism (and other religions) teach. How well
it is received is another matter.
scott prev:
Now if you object that by that reasoning, no one could act at all, I
agree. That is why I am not political. I do not know how Giants
should be run. I'd rather encourage people to work on their own
intellect so that gradually the Giant will wither away.
msh 08-06-05:
And, as I said before, that's fine for you, enjoying your good
standard of living while you wait. In the meantime, millions are
suffering as a direct result of policies instituted by our
government, in our name and, if we are silent, with our tacit
approval.
Scott:
Silence is silence. It is not tacit approval. To take it as tacit approval
is to say you insist on working out the intellectual/social conflict your
way. I am playing a different game, in part because I see your game as
conceding too much to the social from the start.
msh 08-06-05:
Well, I don't see how criticizing people who act, saying they are
merely ego-bound and therefore making things worse (especially when
there is plenty of evidence to indicate positive results), can be
interpreted as anything other than ego-bound criticism. Sorry.
Scott:
I haven't said that you are making things worse, nor am I criticizing
activists per se. My original point in this thread was to object to your
accusing me and others who do not do what you do of "doing nothing". You
seem to be wedded to that old New Left slogan, "If you're not part of the
solution, you're part of the problem", where, of course, you are defining
what counts as the problem and the solution. I see what I am doing as a
different kind of solution to social ills. We diagnose the problem
differently, and hence have different solutions.
- Scott
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