[MD] Hippies in Sodom and Gomorrah

[Arlo J. Bensinger]

[Platt had said on the American University]
Another testament to America's slouching towards Gomorrah.

[Arlo]
And Pirsig had said that since the Hippie Revolution failed, America has been
slowly drifting back to Victorianism, which he ridiculed as "a return to
values, whatever that means". If we characterize this as Sodom, to offset the
Uni's drift towards Gomorrah, and I am wondering why there is such a refusal to
accept that these two choices (republicans and democrats, conservatism and
liberalism) are not (1) all there are, (2) mutually exclusive, or (3)
dichotomous into Absolute Good v. Absolute Evil.

Certainly there are more choices than conservative drifting towards Sodom and
liberal drifting towards Gomorrah? No?

As Khaled has rightly pointed out, we need to "expand at the roots". And let go
of this inane dichotomy of choosing between Sodom and Gomorrah. Hippiedom was a
root expansion, until it lost its way.

Platt, you have asked several times for what "hippiedom" promises, and I think
that's a "mu" question. Its like asking the Brujo what he forsees for his
civilization. How can he answer? He doesn't know. But we do know that Pirsig
called the hippies "moral" for rising above static social and intellectual
patterns, and moving towards Dynamic Quality.

I see this as allegience to what is Good, not what is "my country" or "my
ideology". These things must come second to what is Good. And we must be
careful that we don't simply make a circular definition that "what is Good" is
"what my country does" or "what my ideology says", which is exactly what the
right-wing has done both here and there, across the globe.

One can, for example, be critical of the praxiological manifestation of American
hegemony, and still find great value in some of the achievements of Western
culture. Just as one can also be critical of non-Western culture without
neither blindly condemning nor blindly supporting them. One can be proud of
being a German without having to believe that everything his country and
government has done, is doing, and will do is reflective only of Pure Morality.
Same for the Jews, and the Muslims, and the Iranians, and the Americans.
Eventually, however, how we define ourselves should also rise above static
social and intellectual categories. I am reminded of the Indian commenting on
Dusenberry, "He as a Good man". That is the only classification that should
matter. When people ask me "what are you?" (no matter the context, politics,
religion, philosophy, ethnicity, nationalism) I reply in one way. "Good, I
hope."

Last week on both the O'Reilly and Hannity shows, they played a tape of a Denver
school teacher condemning America as the "most violent nation in the world".
While such blanket criticisms are misguided and abhorrent, so too were
indoctrinations we received as kids as to America's manifest destiny of Pure
Morality. Blind criticality and blind obedience. Sodom and Gomorrah. There are
more choices than this.

At least, I think there are.

Arlo