[MD] subject/object: pragmatism

[Platt Holden]

> [Platt]
> Team captains? Oracles? Divine commands? Dreck? You do use colorful 
> language at times. 
> 
> [Krimel]
> Much as we differ about nearly everything else I think we share a common
> love for the written word.

[Platt} Yes, indeed. 

[Krimel]
> Early on I was taught to be a disciple of Strunk
> and White. I hated them. They imposed rules on prose. I found it outrageous.
> Their injunction to "Use fewer words" was painful to learn, difficult to
> follow but generally good advice. One way to reduce your word count is to
> select words that convey precise connotation. I don't always succeed but I
> always try. 

[Platt]
Right on. My advice to all writers: Tell me quick and tell me true, 
otherwise to hell with you. 

> [Platt]
> I think he's got it right --  as the history of the 20th century fairly well
> illustrates. 
> 
> [Krimel]
> I do not think you can judge ideals in this way. All sorts of factors
> influence the outcomes of history. The ideals may or may not play a deciding
> role in the ways we might think they do. After all it took nearly 200 years
> after we started this country with the phrase "all men are created equal..."
> to grant equality to all men and even longer to grant it to women. 
> 
> We are still coming to terms with the meaning of our ideals in the west. I
> am pretty sure this is what scares Strauss and the Arabs.

[Platt]
To attain ideals you have to state what they are and from whence they come.
The Founding Fathers accomplished both. So did Marx. The results were
quite different.  

> [Platt]
> I have no doubt you express the underlying wish of the left, along with a
> willingness to give evolution a push. 
> 
> [Krimel]
> See I would say the left is not trying to give evolution a push rather it is
> trying to give it a chance.
> 
> [Krimel]
> > Gotta go now I hear the daily Jesus Pool Party starting up near by...
> 
> [Platt]
> Intolerance is a sin among politically correct leftists, unless the subject
> is Christians. 
> 
> [Krimel]
> I will take this in the spirit it is offered but in fairness very few here
> have raised the issue of Christian and Jewish faith more often or in a more
> positive light than I have. I think it is a topic that scares many here. And
> I have been equally politically incorrect in criticizing the fuzzy headed
> naval gazers in our midst who generally get a pass for sounding profound.

[Platt]
Point taken. You appear to accept the tenets of Christianity as your moral 
compass, although I'm not exactly sure why other than it's a Western 
tradition -- not that there's anything wrong with that.