From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Sun Jul 11 2004 - 20:01:31 BST
Arlo adds some thoughts:
> > Pirsig says in LILA (Chapter 17):
> > "The conservatives [i.e. read capitalists] who keep trumpeting about the
> > virtues of free enterprise are normally just supporting their own
> > self-interest. They are just doing the usual cover-up for the rich in their
> > age-old exploitation of the poor.
>
> Distortion by omission: Pirsig says: "A free market is a Dynamic
> institution." (Lila, 17)
>
Distortion by false relation: "Free market" is not a blanket synonymn with
"modern capitalism", except in a purely dichotomous, dualistic world ("modern
capitalism" versus "evil"), or in a case where vested interests want to control
the dialogue by pretending the two are the only choices.
> > Even though Pirsig also says:
> > "From a static point of view socialism is more moral than capitalism. Its a
> > higher form of evolution. It is an intellectually guided society, not just
> > a society based on mindless traditions."
>
> Distortion by omission: Pirsig says: "But what the socialists left out and
> what has all but killed their whole undertaking is an absence of a concept
> of indefinite Dynamic Quality."
>
Distortion by dichotomy: The only two choices are not eastern-bloc socialism and
modern American capitalism. Just because the eastern-blocs were wrong, does not
ipso facto make modern capitalism right.
> > AND (Pirsig's emphasis)
> >
> > "It is not that Victorian social economic patterns are more moral than
> > socialist intellectual economic patterns. Quite the opposite. They are LESS
> > moral as static patterns go."
>
> Distortion by omission. Pirsig says, "What makes the free-enterprise
> system superior is that the socialists, reasoning intelligently and
> objectively, have inadvertently closed the door to Dynamic Quality in the
> buying and selling of things."
>
Dichotomous distortion similiar to above: Free-enterprise's superiority over
eastern-bloc socialism does not mean modern capitalism is unassailable and
above critical rethinking. It is a false relation used to control the dialogue:
"Free-enterprise" means exactly AND only "modern capitalism".
> > dmb concludes:
> > So what's my point? Don't be discouraged. Platt SEEMS to have NOT read
> > everything he's read. But others are not only reading and comprehending,
> > but also enjoying what you write.
>
> Platt concludes:
> DMB has read Lila, but ignores what doesn't fit his socialist agenda. He
> is impervious to logic and facts. Evidence above supports.
>
Again, pure dichotomy. Everything that challenges "modern capitalism" is a
"socialist agenda". It is using the dialogue to assert that these are the only
two possible choices. It promotes fear by fending off any critical analysis of
modern capitalistic practices by advancing the notion of the "socialist
boogeyman" coming and taking away our freedoms.
As for evidence to your other "no evidence assertations", I state again that
since the very first post I made (regarding Marx and Pirsig and alienation) I
stated quite cleary that I favor "free markets" and a "bottom-up rethinking of
capitalism" through changing the dialogue to remove the value-free "money over
everything" attitude of modern capitalism. Despite several restatements of
this, including several relations to Quality as presented in ZMM, each reply
presented a view that my "beliefs" favored "coersion of honest traders",
"earning money isn't good", and ongoing references equating my position with
eastern-bloc socialism.
Arlo
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