[MD] re, fellow european-Bodvar

[John Carl]

arlo the puppy kicker sez:

"to suggest Pirsig would rather see this list devolve into a sporadic
collection of "random thoughts" swinging from "art is pretty" to "leftists
are bad" is something I would think would NOT be something he would rather
see here."

And scores!  Because of course!  Who would?  We can judge pretty accurately
what Pirsig would want - Quality.

And I'd say more than anything that Pirsig would want people to pursue DQ in
their own sphere than ask "what would bob do" all the time.

And thus Platt's point about Pirsig NOT wanting "what would bob do"
academically codified, defined and warped into a static object of
intellectual encapsulation, is true.  And it is in that vein that I think
Platt is closer to the heart than any reliance upon any static authority
figure.  Be it Pirsig himself or any past-designated acolytes.

ahem.


But hey, I'm an evil academic, you know, one of the bad guys who values
> learning rather than championing ignorance, so what do I know? I kick
> puppies for fun.
>
>

And tell me, oh teacher of men, what increases learning?  Arrogant
encapsulations of academic status, or humble seeking of truth?


At the very least, you need both.

John the arrogant encapsulator of humility