[MD] Food for Thought

[ian glendinning]

Platt, Case (and DMB) Inserted ...

On 1/7/07, Platt Holden <pholden at davtv.com> wrote:
> > [Platt]
> > The last thing a free society needs is a bunch of intellectuals
> > practicing social engineering.
> >
> > [Case]
> > You are right Platt it is better to let social matters be left to blind
> > chance. Then we can appeal to Manifest Destiny to glorify our success
> > and dismiss our failures.
>
> Take a chance and do nothing is an option that should always be
> seriously considered. There is no cost and a possible beneficial
> outcome. Further, doing nothing allows DQ the freedom to explore.
>

Ian G says ..

Platt, you said it "Take a chance and do nothing is an option that
should always be seriously considered."

An option to be seriously considered is one thing, the sole response
to any situation, hardly. (We need both SQ and DQ)

I keep coming back to this one point (at the root of my social /
intellectual issue) and DMB made my point for me too, that any
"quality" society needs some premises set by an intellectual elite
(founding fathers, whatever) with social authority to "uphold" these
intellectual principles. Some form of intellectual elitism seems
inescapable.

Ian