[MD] Unreality of Equality

[Platt Holden]

Hey SA,

>       Platt said:  ""Some things are better than
> others." (It is scarcely the same thing to put a man on the moon as
> put a bone in your nose.)"

I don't know about you but my experience tells me that it's a lot 
harder to put a man on the moon than put a bone in your nose, and that 
a culture more accomplished in science, technology and longevity is 
more worthy of study than a culture deficient in those things. If you 
have tested out the bone in the nose and have had first hand experience 
in the culture it resides within, perhaps you'll share your experience 
with us. 

As for Pirsig's Indians and the "generosity of frontier" I remind you 
of the following:

"Primitive tribes such as the American Indians have no record of 
sweetness and cooperation with other tribes. They ambushed them, 
tortured them, dashed their children's brains out on rocks. If man is 
basically good, then maybe it is man's basic goodness which invented 
social institutions to repress this land of biological savagery in the 
first place." (Lila, 24)

You'll have to excuse me for smiling at the knee-jerk, politically 
correct response of you and Arlo at the mention of bones in noses, 
completely ignoring the meaning of the sentence that says there's a 
differences in cultures and that some are better than others. The 
sentence merely reflects what Pirsig has stated:

"A culture that supports the dominance of intellectual values over 
social values is absolutely superior to one that does not." (Lila, 24)  
 
But having said that, I'm pleased we agree that "inequality is reality" 
and look forward to further discussions on the subject. 

Platt
 
>      Platt here I come again with that bow and arrow,
> sorry I had to say that, but I did.  First you say
> experience confirms, then you talk about he bone in
> nose.  Have you ever tested out the bone in nose and
> experienced it in the culture it resides within to
> notice what kind of experience it would be?  Secondly,
> here is a quote from Pirsig nearer the beginning of
> Chapter 7, "Maybe he was just noticing it more because
> he'd been thinking about Indians.  Some of these
> differences are just urban-rural differences, and the
> East is more urban.  But some of these differences
> reflected European values too.  Every time he came
> this way he could feel the people getting more formal
> and impersonal and ... crafty.  Exploitative. 
> European.  And petty too, and ungenerous.
>      Out West among the Indians it's a standing joke
> that the chief is the poorest man in the tribe.  Every
> time somebody needs something he's the one they go to,
> and by the Indian code, 'the generosity of the
> frontier,' he has to help them."
> 
>      We could dissect this a great deal if we wanted
> to and how much generosity leads to enough is enough,
> hunt on your own won't you, kind of mentality.  Yet,
> my point is values do go deeper than a surface bone in
> the nose judge-mentality.  What is the point of the
> bone in the nose within that culture?  Why is it
> valued?  If the value is worth-while and you don't
> want the bone in the nose, yet, you like the value
> maybe you could bring the value into your culture, if
> the value is more universally linked, but did you
> experience the culture to learn and understand what
> that value might be in the first place?
>      Sure inequality is a reality and a positive one
> at that I believe, and I understand I might be forcing
> my view into your view and our views may argue thus
> creating an atmosphere where one or the other or
> others might think this is a battle between your view
> and my view.  To make this bigger than it really is
> even further this might be perceived as your view or
> my view is on a quest of global domination, thus, one
> of us or others might take either view as competing
> views that in the end one could win out.  When one
> wins out then they have made the world have more of an
> equal view, because no competitors exist anymore, but
> is this really happening?  No, because I think even
> amongst my view their is a diverse array of views and
> thus, inequalities, and probably amongst your view as
> well.  Our views are even inequal views as well it
> seems.  I just had to let this all out to get by the
> contrast into the Quality of where the Unreality of
> Equality is to possible exercise our intellect
> towards.
> 
> Thanks,
> SA