[MD] grmbl

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Platt to Ron]
You left out Einstein's final paragraph:

[Arlo]
Actually. You did as well.

"Clarity about the aims and problems of socialism is of greatest 
significance in our age of transition. Since, under present 
circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has 
come under a powerful taboo..."

Yes, they certainly have (witness Glenn Beck's "nazi tourettes" 
(Lewis Black is awesome!)).

"The individual has become more conscious than ever of his dependence 
upon society. But he does not experience this dependence as a 
positive asset, as an organic tie, as a protective force, but rather 
as a threat to his natural rights, or even to his economic existence. 
Moreover, his position in society is such that the egotistical drives 
of his make-up are constantly being accentuated, while his social 
drives, which are by nature weaker, progressively deteriorate." (Einstein)

Sounds like Einstein had a time-travel device and was listening to 
2010 talk radio.

He continues, "All human beings, whatever their position in society, 
are suffering from this process of deterioration. Unknowingly 
prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and 
deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of 
life." (Einstein)

This is the same prison Pirsig describes in ZMM.

"Along the streets that lead away from the apartment he can never see 
anything through the concrete and brick and neon but he knows that 
buried within it are grotesque, twisted souls forever trying the 
manners that will convince themselves they possess Quality, learning 
strange poses of style and glamour vended by dream magazines and 
other mass media, and paid for by the vendors of substance." (Pirsig)

"The economic anarchy of capitalist society as it exists today is, in 
my opinion, the real source of the evil." (Einstein)

Pirsig describes the current modes of production in ZMM. "People 
arrive at a factory and perform a totally meaningless task from eight 
to five without question because the structure demands that it be 
that way. There's no villain, no "mean guy" who wants them to live 
meaningless lives, it's just that the structure, the system demands 
it and no one is willing to take on the formidable task of changing 
the structure just because it is meaningless." (ZMM)

Thankfully, a few do.