[MD] Sin Part 2

[Case]

[Platt]
I don't know on what moral basis you believe "government has a duty to 
be involved in economic activity." Is that in the MOQ?

[Case]
It is in the constitution.
 
> [Case]
> Why if we are so wonderful and benevolent would they be so ungrateful?

[Platt]
Because beneficiaries of good works are very cognizant of their 
inferior position to their benefactor. They are both resentful and 
envious. No one likes to be patronized. 

[Case]
So now invasion of Iraq is a scuffle over the economic equivalent of penis
envy?

[Platt]
That's why affirmative action and diversity programs have a negative effect.

[Case]
This programs have been very successful in making equality of opportunity a
reality rather than a dream. The positive change in social relationship in
the U.S over the past 30 years is something to be proud of. It is one of the
reasons I still salute the flag.
  
 [Platt]
I don't excuse 9/11 on the grounds we deserved it if that's what you 
mean.

[Case]
Neither to I but I don't promote it as a reason to give up individual
freedom or to invade a sovereign nation either or to hold any individual
without the benefit of legal counsel, either.

[Platt]
Stupid enough to believe all the world's intelligence agencies who, 
without exception, said Saddam had WMD's and was working to acquire
atomic weapons? Just a week or so ago it was revealed by captured Iraq 
papers that Saddan was within a year of getting an atomic bomb. 

[Case]
So if this were true, would that mean Saddam would have got his a week or
two before the North Koreans and a bit behind the Pakistanis? The facts of
the administration's abuse of the intelligence services are widely known. 

[Platt]
As I interpret Pirsig, the central issue of morality is that the whole 
world from the farthest galaxy to the lowliest microbe is a moral 
structure. "The physical order of the universe is also the moral order 
of the universe." (Lila, 30) The laws discovered by science, such as 
the laws of motion, are moral laws.

[Case]
Thanks I look forward to rereading that.

[Platt]
Yes, I agree. We can have diametrically opposed beliefs without fear 
that either of us will decapitate or blow up the other. It does speak, 
however, to the failure of the MOQ -- or our failure -- to elucidate or 
comprehend a common moral compass. Perhaps someone wiser than me
can explain why that is so. If you have some thoughts on that subject,
I look forward to hearing them.

[Case]
Excellent question I often wonder if many times your responds here are
subtle ways of probing that point. Philosophical scab picking? The stock
answer is because of our different reinforcement histories we respond
differently to identical stimuli. That's a behavioral oversimplification but
it works for me in a general way.