[MD] Re Arlo

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Platt to Ron]
All the rest is just the usual insults, name calling, bombast and...

[Arlo]
By the way, I find it flattering that you and Bo always find a way to Pee-Wee
the words I use in my posts. I mention in my conversation to DMB that Bo's
ideas are untenable, and the next post from Bo I see he uses the word
"untenable" to refer to Pirsig's position. My latest post to Adrie points out
the obvious talk-radio "bombast" deployed by the SIMians and lo and behold
Platt's reply accuses me of... what else?.. "bombast"!

I'd be flattered if such a manipulative rhetorical technique hasn't been well
documented and described. Indeed, this "Pee Wee Maneuver", as I call it, is one
of the more common "talk-radio" rhetorical devices. 

[Ron]
Right about what? his own opinion, the affirmation of your own? How can one be
right about an interpretation?

[Arlo]
It's just more talk-radio rhetoric. Why would you or I or anyone "fear" Bo
being "right"? Aside for the idiocy of such a statement, you can see the
foolishness of using "right" instead of "better", which is part of the trap of
"interpretative legitimacy". 

For the SIMians, its not about "better", its about being "right", and so the
valid ground they should be (could be!) standing on is ignored in favor of
beating the perpetual "we are right and you are wrong" fallacy of who speaks
for (the now pre-hospitalized!) Pirsig.

[Bo]
The question is, what makes one better than the other?

[Arlo]
I admire your patience and your eternal optimism, but the demand for
interpretative legitimacy, and the aforementioned genre-conflict, leaves this
unimportant in their view.