[MD] atomic bomb and torture

[Platt Holden]

Hi Horse, Amirman

> Hi Amirman
 
> I think you'll find that Platt's views on this and many other subjects
> are in the minority here and come about for a variety of reasons.

I'm sure Horse will agree that being in the minority doesn't 
necessarily indicate that a person's views are wrong.

> The
> main reason for the post that you disagree with is mistaking the
> destruction of biological patterns for the destruction of the entity as
> a whole.

There's no mistake about Pirsig's willingness to kill (destroy the 
entity as a whole) if that entity (person) poses a threat to 
society."It's moral for a society to prevent a criminal from destroying 
it by killing him if that is necessary." (LC, Note 136) and " . . . a 
society has a right to murder people to prevent it's own destruction." 
(Lila, 13) There's a curious reluctance on the part of many posters  
here to admit that Pirsig justifies killing people under certain 
circumstances "before those biological patterns destroy civilization 
itself." (Lila, 24).    

> Platt frequently misinterprets Pirsig's words (on hippy's,
> socialism, biological pattern destruction etc.) to suit his own
> purposes.

I would say just the opposite -- that many here misinterpret Pirsig's words to
suit their own political agendas -- like in the example above. 

> As I said above, the majority of folk on this list disagree
> with those interpretations, myself included, so please don't take away
> the impression that his views represent what Lila and/or the Metaphysics
> of Quality is about.

Good advice. But groupthink isn't always the path to truth either. Each 
should decide for himself what Pirsig's words mean in context. 

Incidentally Amirman, Horse runs this show, making it possible for us 
to freely express our views. Without him, there would likely be no 
moqtalk. org. much less a discussion group that serves as a model of  
how such an free exchange of ideas ought to be managed. 

Best regards,
Platt