[MD] The MoQ.org STRANGLES Creativity

[Case]

[Arlo]
I'm convinced that a fundamental problem here is that the SOMist firmament 
described in ZMM has NOT been overcome. It is why I consider ZMM to be the 
more immediately important book. Only after people appreciate what Pirsig 
meant by Quality, can applying his analytical divisions have any meaning. 
Platt, for example, has turned around and made the MOQ an apologist 
doctrine for the very system Pirsig describes as built on faulty 
foundations in ZMM.

[Case]
I have heard people say in reviews that Lila is the more philosophical work
and my response to that is: "say what?" I see Lila is just playing around
with Quality, taking it out for a test drive. The fact that many see it as
the whole shooting match is disturbing, to me at least.

[Arlo]
A while back, I pointed out that over the past 30 years we have slowly but 
surely moved the majority of our interactions from public to private space. 
This because the undergirding dialogue in this country has been built on 
the mercantilistic distinction that devalues "public" and overvalues 
"private". This is but one symptom of the modern problem. Consumerism has 
stepped in to fill the psychic void created by our retreat from public 
spheres. In ZMM, Pirsig nails it on the head.

[Case]
I see no happy solution to the "modern problem." It is the price of success.
I mentioned the Jews a couple of posts back. Every time they reach a point
of prosperity where "every man does what seems good to him" the feces hits
the fan. Nothing good can come of everyone pursuing their own interest and
ignoring their neighbors and community.

Unfortunately is seems there must be some level of common threat to keep
people focused on the common good. It would be nice to think that there is a
positive side to this. That is, we could all be working together for a
common good. But that seem a bit starry eyed.

The greatest harm the 3Rs (Rand, Reagan and Republicans) have done is to
change the whole playing field of public discourse. Government is bad. Taxes
are bad. All politicians lie. Government should be run like a business.
Efficiency is the highest good. The poor are nothing but lazy freeloaders. 
This is a free country and I should be able to do what seems good to me. 

There is no discussion of the public good, no focus on Citizenship. In my
neck of the woods there are not more Civics classes in the public school. I
heard a set of lectures by a guy who had been an advisor to Carter. He made
the point that Eskimos spend time teaching their children about the dangers
of ice flows and polar bears. Here is what they look like. Here is what
happens if you are not careful around them. We don't do that for our
children. Often we don't even seem to know what the ice flows and polar
bears look like ourselves. 


[Arlo]
Recently, I read an article that talked about the "return of the front 
porch". For many decades, a front porch was a stable feature of American 
homes. It was a public face (albeit on private property), where a family 
would go seeking public interactions with neighbors, passerbys and others. 
Then, in the 80s, we saw a steady and quick decline of the front porch in 
favor of the "rear deck". Families would instead seek solace and seclusion 
in their leisure moments. Today, it seems, as if more people are going back 
to the front porch, and dropping the notion of a rear deck. I see this as a 
good trend. Perhaps people realized that by shutting out others, they were 
voluntarily imprisoning themselves.

[Case]
I have heard of the front porch problem too. It was on the front porches
that people watched the neighborhood children grow up and took an interest
in each other. I have assumed that air conditioning killed them because it
is just too hot to go out there. But the rear deck would argue against that.
The sources of isolation are legion: the end of neighborhood schools, the
shift of the work place as the center of life as opposed to the home, the
rise of technological babysitters. I seriously don't see much hope for a
cultural that does not focus on the next generation. And if you look at the
Jews and nearly every generation of immigrants that have come to this great
land you see the pattern. There is upward mobility as long as the parents
are working for the success of their children.