Hi Rick:
> > PLATT:
> > This is where your position falls off a cliff.
>
> rick: How would you know what my position does??? You completely ignore my
> argument and simply restate your own. Is this really the best you can
> do???
PLATT:
You seem to believe if I don't agree with your argument that I ignore it.
Not replying to your post--now THAT would be ignoring your argument.
And why the thinly veiled insult? "Is that really the best you can do???"
How is that relevant to anything? And does using three question marks
instead of one somehow add anything to your argument other than
reveal a belligerent attitude?
> PLATT:
> The MOQ's canon against
> > subordinating truth to social values erects a solid moral wall against
> > tyrants who alter truth for the very reason you cite--because it "would
> > be best for society."
>
> rick: Yes... the MOQ does say something like this... But that canon is
> completely irrelevant to this conflict. One need not turn to the MOQ to
> see how ridiculous the position you've put forth is....
> Did you know that the figures in the statue will stand over 12 feet
> tall??? This is so it is easier for soicety to view from great distances.
> Clearly this disturbes you as the actual firefighters we're all
> considerably shorter than this... and subordiniting 'historical accurcay'
> to social need in this way is repugnant to the MOQ... right? And did you
> know that even before the decision was made to change the races of the men,
> the decision was made to use MODELS instead of the actual men in the photo.
> Surely you'd have been just as peeved if the 3 white firefighters had been
> repleaced by 3 white models??? Right??? Because 3 white models is just as
> 'historically inaccurate' as 3 multi-racial models... no matter how you
> slice it, it would have been different guys.
PLATT:
The size of the figures depicted in the statue is irrelevant to its
historical accuracy. Take a look at the Lincoln memorial sometime.
Whose face is depicted? How large is it?
As for the decision to use models, who decided that--the same guys
who decided to be politically correct instead of truthful to the flag raising
event?
RICK:
> But moreover, you've completely missed the fact that the memorial
IS,
> in
> fact, quite historically accurate. In fact, it MORE accurately portrays
> the racial composition of the men it was built to commemorate than
> Franklyn's photo does. Keep in mind, the statue is NOT a commemoration of
> the event in the photo, rather, it is a sommemoration of the men who dies,
> that was INSPIRED by the photo. Like I said, you're judging the accuracy
> against the wrong history.
PLATT:
More accurately portrays the racial composition? Hardly. The politically
correct statute portrays a racial composition of one third white, one
third black and one third Hispanic. But, you reported that the actual
racial composition of the firefighters who died in the fire was 319 were
white, 12 were black and 12 were Hispanic.
But, I agree that the statute was to commemorate the MEN who died.
Race had nothing to do with their bravery nor their deaths. Nobody,
absolutely nobody, was concerned with petty racial diversity when
those firemen entered the buildings.
RICK:
> And if all that doesn't do it for you. Than don't argue with me...
> argue with Robert Maynard Pirsig... an author who is quite confident that
> "Authenticity isn't necessarily Quality." (Letter from R.Pirsig to
> R.Redford as published in the Guidebook to ZMM, p.236).
PLATT:
Since I don't have a copy of the Guidebook to ZMM I would like to see
the context of the quote. The relevance of Pirsig's statement to our
debate depends on the entire letter and the circumstances that
prompted it. Pirsig changed his mind on a lot of things after writing
ZMM.
What surprised me, Rick, was that you didn't comment on whether in
your opinion Pirsig is right in placing the intellectual level morally
higher than the social level and perhaps more importantly, whether you
think there is such a thing as "the truth." These are the overriding
philosophical issues that our debate about the statue has raised and
that I had hoped you would pick up on.
Your move,
Platt
MOQ.org - http://www.moq.org
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