[MD] a-theism and atheism

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[John]
Nobody thinks professors are stupid and nobody around here has offered up such
extreme inanity as you "profess".

[Arlo]
I'd disagree. Maybe not "stupid", but definitely "commie" and certainly "evil".
Witness Platt's latest example of knee-jerk anti-intellectualism in this
thread, offering the view that if it were not for the evil Academy, brujos and
philosophy would live in a golden era. Being "outside the wall" is championed
against those "inside" holding everyone back. Witness the continued ridicule
and disdain of "academics" working with Pirsig to bring his ideas into
university philosophy curriculae.

If you'd like, once I get back to my work computer, I can easily search the
archives and provide quite a lot of examples of this type of anti-intellectual
rhetoric.

[John]
You profess an appreciation for "Shopcraft as SoulCraft"; do you claim the
author of that book to be railing against "stoopid commie perfessers"?  So not
all criticism of the academy fits into your narrow straw-sucker picture.

[Arlo]
As I said, there are valid criticisms that can be leveled against the
bureaucracy and examples of when certain things need fixing. And Crawford does
this well, but he does not condemn the Academy, he offers suggestions for
improving it. 

I suppose this is indicative of those who condemn intellect as "SOL" rather
than seeking the expansion of rationality that Pirsig was offering. He wasn't
cheering being "outside the wall", he was championing ways to improve the way
the system works. 

[John]
The point is that we're moving away from a literate society - one that
champions words and interpretations of words - to an image based society that
champions celebrity and fashions. 

[Arlo]
And, I'd argue, this is a robust example of the malignant anti-intellectualism
rampant in our country. 

[John]
So my point was not a criticism of Acerdemics, as you hastily jumped to
conclude, but emphasizing the difference between the normal academic
development of a metaphysical system and the somewhat populace-oriented MoQwith
it's basis as a couple of novels and a lot of internet-enabled dialogue.

[Arlo]
Okay, well what do you think this difference is? Is one "better"? How so? Why?

[John]
The enemy of the academy is no longer the pulpit.  The enemy of the academy is
Nickleodean and Discovery.

[Arlo]
Anti-intellectualism is the only "enemy" of the Academy, whether it was
deployed by the pulpit or any other social structure.