[MD] What all is about.

[Ham Priday]

[Platt]:
> Looks like Arlo is back spoiling for a fight. He'll get one if he suggests
> that "indecency" is high quality and that the "good ol' days" were all 
> bad.

Yes, but aren't you thrilled by the way he credits us for touching on a 
"profound issue"?

[Arlo]:
But the underlying issue, they both touch on, is profound, and it is
the core of ZMM's thesis. The fundamental problem facing our culture
is not "punk rock" or "modern art" or "celebrity scientists", but the
underlying S/O foundation that has cut Quality out of the dialogue.
When Pirsig laments the transition from the mechanic-artist of his
younger days, to the uninvolved mechanic-by-label-only of the (then)
modern garage, he ascribes this to a collapse of "care", which he has
said is a direct correlate of Quality.

I had no idea that my comments would be interpreted as supporting the MoQ, 
least of all by Arlo!

There's another thought I'd like to throw in here.  Since Arlo believes 
Pirsig lamented the lack of "caring" in contemporary culture, and that care 
is a "correlate of quality", I wonder if he's ever realized that Value is 
what we care FOR.  Essentialism is a valuistic philosophy, so this term 
works best for me.

To illustrate: When we take things for granted, we cease caring and their 
value is lost to us.  When we take Freedom for granted, we forget that we 
have to defend it--sometimes fight to preserve it--or we lose it.   Make sex 
a "social recreation", and we lose the value of romantic love.  Fail to 
nurture our sensibility to the arts, and we lose the value of aesthetic 
beauty.  Pay only lip service to traditional moral values, and we lose 
personal integrity and honor.  Freedom, love, beauty, and honor are not just 
correlates of something called "quality", they are actual values. 
Regrettably, they are all values that have depreciated in our 
technology-driven, live-for-the-moment world.

As I say, just a thought to ponder.

--Ham