[MD] Decision

[Platt Holden]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Matt Kundert" <pirsigaffliction at hotmail.com>
To: <moq_discuss at moqtalk.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 06, 2010 8:05 PM
Subject: Re: [MD] Decision


> This, however, brought me out of my brief, self-imposed
> exile because I think Platt is right about the moral issue,
> even if he's a right-wing lunatic (a broken clock comes to
> mind, and it's about that time
>
> I would strongly suggest that making an interpretational
> position a line with which one must be on the right side of
> for membership in the MD is a bad administrative move, and
> antithetical to the philosophical enterprise.  On the former
> score, every _healthy_ academic department in universities
> goes out of its way to include diverse voices--not because
> of "political correctness" (where Platt's clock goes back to
> usually being wrong), but because, as EM Forster put it, while
> laissez-faire may not work for economics, it is the only way
> to go for the spirit.

Matt, All:

Since my name was mentioned in connection with political correctness
let me challenge anyone to name mainstream colleges who
allow voices to argue that fundamentalist Christianity is admirable,
or that Western culture is superior to other cultures, or that woman's place
is in the home, or that homosexuality is a perversion, or that there are
racial differences in intelligence, or that the Holocaust is a fiction, or 
that
universal health care includes death panels, or that racial profiling has
benefits, or that abortion should be criminalized, etc., etc.

The truth is that coercive stifling of opinion and intrusive moralizing, 
i.e.,
political correctness, is rife on campus and indeed in daily life. So to see
its ugly head pop up here is not surprising. Political correctness is 
sanctioned
by authorities in government, business and academe who constantly preach
tolerance, sensitivity, caring and compassion. Attacks on dissenters, 
however,
are not seen as a problem, (see "right-wing lunatic" above) even though
blatantly hypocritical.

About the current controversy on Horse's decision to threaten Bo's
removal, I hope calmer heads advising caution will prevail. To
toss off anyone whose contributions are irrelevant to the general topic
of the MOQ would be justified. But to evict someone simply because
his opinions are controversial would be immoral.

Regards,
Platt