[MD] Intellectual activity

[Heather Perella]

Hello Platt,

 
> >      Platt went on to say:  "Thus jobs for loggers
> > trumps the spotted owl..."
> > 
> >      SA:  The owl is not a machine.  The owl has
> intellect.
> 
>   Platt:  In Pirsig's moral hierarchy, intellect is
reserved
> for human beings. 
> Animals do not reach that level. They're stuck in
> the biological realm.

     Where does Pirsig say this?  Maybe I'm missing
something.
  
   SA said previously:  Though doesn't think like
Platt or I, the owl is
> able
> > to change its' habits, but like the Zen master,
> the
> > owl is very, very ritualistic, probably to contain
> > that DQ where no-mind becomes everything.  Yet,
> this
> > argument about owls and jobs, life or $, or since
> $
> > means life to this culture then it becomes a pit
> where
> > life vs. life dukes it out in the boxing ring?  Or
> am
> > I missing something here and we'll just go so far
> off
> > track and never find agreement here.


Platt said:  "It's not so much $ as man needs to work
to live. And
> he has to use his 
> intellect to survive. Owls and other animals, by
> contrast, are born 
> knowing how to live, instructed (sometimes) by their
> parents. 

     Yes humankind needs work to live.  Owls need work
to live.  Work is effort.  I understand your
differentiating humankind uses intellect and owls
don't.  So we should just kill everything for that $. 
$ is the means to survive in this culture.  Sure it
takes intellect to read that one dollar bill, but that
ability to read weighed up against killing everything
in your path because you have that ability to read. 
Sounds very irrogant.

    SA previously:  So I let you
> > know right away.  To kill off a species of any
> animal
> > just for $ just seems so wrong.  We need wood.  So
> > take some, but don't take it all and annihilate
> the
> > earth while your doing it.  I wish I could see
> > cougar's, wolves, and moose in the area I live in,
> but
> > even though they were here, their not anymore -
> killed
> > off.  Deer, turkey, elk, and coyotes almost killed
> off
> > in this state of Pennsylvania for lumber, sport,
> and
> > such, but people went to other states to get more
> and
> > reintroduced them here.  They were dismally gone
> and
> > without them being in other places to put some
> back
> > here, the woods would be soooo empty and quiet,
> too
> > quiet for me.  I like these animals, for beauties
> sake
> > at the very least.

     Platt responds:  Well, we too are part of
glorious nature. And we
> know nature can be 
> mighty rough at times when it comes to competition
> between species.

     Sure can, and to kill most of them because we can
cause we read is an unusual way to approach life.  I'm
sorry but I'm not getting your mentality here.
  
> >      Platt went on to say:  "...the life of an
> unborn
> > trumps a woman's decision to abort."  
> > 
> >      What do we do about stupid people who have
> > children and can't afford them so the rest of
> society
> > has to more and more take care of them, yet, these
> > stupid people could have wanted an abortion and
> this
> > would have saved a lot more heartache.  Remember
> > though, they are stupid so they probably still
> keep
> > having sex for the mere lower level of pleasure,
> not
> > thinking what a child might mean.
> 
  Platt:  Before the advent of the welfare state where
stupid
> people having 
> babies were rewarded with food stamps and
> apartments, the ethos kept 
> bastardy to a minimum. Withdrawing incentives to
> have babies would help 
> remove the burden from society.

     Yes, we need a lively ethos.  An ethos that is
universal.  I'm not saying sweep away the bugs before
our path as we walk, but if you can take a little here
and over there instead of the whole thing all for
yourself.  That's what sex crazed people can do now. 
Have there sex.  Kill the baby.  Have some more sex. 
Kill the baby, and keep not thinking about anything,
but themselves.
 
> >      Platt said:  "...limits on government seizure
> of
> > private property trumps funding for unspecified
> > "finest" public schools..."
> > 
  SA:      What happened?  Is there a specific example
> you
> > can give here?  Seriously... I am always for
> 'limits
> > on government'.
> 
  Platt:  That's exactly what we need -specific
examples. What
> is a "fine 
> school?"  Does more money necessarily result in
> "fine" schools? I don't 
> think so. 
 
     Oh, I see.  Your talking about using our own
taxes in order to choose what school we would like our
child to go to private or public.  I'm for that.

 
> >      Platt said:  "...protecting innocents from
> > slaughter trumps noninterference in other
> > countries..."
> > 
    SA:  Protecting innocents.  I'm for that.  You
> already
> > know I want peace over anything, but I have said
> that
> > if anybody came after my wife, child,  or even dog
> -
> > like any kin, even the hemlock tree in my yard, I
> > would punch them right in the face especially if
> > calling the cops first would not be an option due
> the
> > time I would have to prevent anything happening to
> > these loved ones of mine.
> 
  Platt:  You better believe it! I'm right there at
your side
> punching the crap 
> out of an attacker. Those who initiate violence
> within a society to be 
> jailed for at least 10 years and forced to work on a
> chain gang. 

      Yeap, I'm all for work.  Let 'em talk only if
the talk is positive and the broom is moving back and
forth.  Step out of line, and put 'em somewhere alone
for awhile where they have to contend with their own
crazed mind and see how much they like themselves that
they ignored for so long.  You know - the true self,
that aspect of us that is both dynamic and static
quality.

> >      Platt:  "...a better life for the poor trumps
> > nonthreatening environmental concerns..."
> > 
> >      Why does the environment and population have
> to
> > be in such conflict?  I think it's because the
> > population of people is too large, but I can't
> really
> > do anything about that other than have two
> children on
> > our own and adopt another that needs a home.
> 
> IMO the threat of environmental damage is way
> overblown. The air and 
> water in the U.S. today is a lot cleaner than a
> generation or two ago, 
> thanks to technology. Our so-called oil crisis will
> be solved the same 
> way.

     Yes, the U.S. got a lot cleaner, because people
started to notice that creatures went missing and the
air stunk.  I'm very happy that things have changed,
but let's not forgot that China and Brazil must expand
and kill all those species from their neck of the
woods that we were born to notice gone from our neck
of the woods.  We notice when we hear from the old
ones, read books, or watch TV about all those
creatures that used to live here, but have no space
left or where killed off by clear cutting.  The old
days of logging where terrible.  Miles upon miles upon
miles of no trees where sparks would fly from the
train tracks setting forest fires.  People came set up
towns and left abandoning towns all over this state
chasing the next 'gold mine'.

> >      Platt says:  "...taxpayer standards of
> propriety
> > trump an artist's wish to display pornography at
> > taxpayer expense, etc."
> > 
> >      SA: This one's easy.  I agree with you.
> 
> Platt:  Great. Now if we could only eliminate having
> illegitimate babies at 
> taxpayer expense. :-)

  Yeah! and much of this comes down to being able to
having that moral compass in our own head, but what
happens in our own head is ignored by the public
school system or any education system except for the
pushed aside and unexplainable courses that people
just think we have to have for no reason such as art,
music, philosophy, wood shop, etc...  Of course I'm
being sarcastic because I highly value these
free-thinking, skill cultivating, and
independence-giving courses.


SA

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