From: Platt Holden (pholden@sc.rr.com)
Date: Wed Oct 05 2005 - 13:07:30 BST
Ant McWatt wrote to Case:
> I enjoyed the above piece of writing. It reminded me of Paul McCartney’s
> observation in the mid-1990s that the Sixties still seemed like the future
> to him. Again, I think it was because of the number of “static latches
> [that] got tripped” then in the arts and in the political arena which still
> haven’t been followed through or developed yet.
Probably the reason they haven't been followed through or developed is
because, as Pirsig pointed out, the 60's were an era of degeneracy when
"Degeneracy was practiced for degeneracy's sake." (Lila, 24).
> I have to agree with you that it has been a great pity the ways things have
> generally turned out in the West since the Sixties. I know there was a
> certain hedonist degeneracy with the hippie era but since then, the US and
> UK and moved towards a far worse type of conservative degeneracy as seen in
> Watergate (Platt is always very quiet about that certain right-wing
> episode), military actions (as seen in Iraq) and a materialist, selfish
> ethos of fear (as seen in the governments of Thatcher, Raygun, Bush etc).
Compared to the conservative's defeat of Soviet Communism, the bloodiest
dictatorship in history, Watergate was a non event. As for an
unsubstantiated "materialist, selfish, ethos of fear," perhaps Ant would
like to see us return to the values of the 60's when "Anarchy became the
most popular politics and squalor and poverty and chaos became the most
popular life styles." (Lila, 24). -
> I do hope therefore that Pirsig’s work will eventually provide more
> balanced individuals their own foundation of moral values that can be used
> to fill the vacuum left by Hippie hedonism and, at the same time, challenge
> the present right-wing hegemony. As Liberal politicians need to realise,
> moral values don’t necessarily have to mean the political agenda of neo-con
> Fundamentalist Christianity.
As yet, no one on this site (much less liberal politicians) has come up
with a program of moral values based on anything other than religious
teachings. We pay lip service to the MOQ but seem to be extremely
reluctant to use it as a moral guide, or if we try, become embroiled in
heated arguments, indicating that it's utility as a practical moral
compass is dubious at best. As someone pointed out, it appears the MOQ can
be interpreted to support both far right and far left political views.
> As such, and as a small step in the correct
> direction, maybe people should consider sending their local Liberal
> candidate a copy of ZMM or LILA!
At first, I read this as "maybe people should consider sending their local
LIBRARY a copy of ZMM and LILA." A wonderful idea. Then I saw "Liberal
candidate" and wondered if she would have time to read the books between
campaigning to solve the world's problems with other people's money. :-)
Platt
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