[MD] Bitterness over Betterness

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Dan]
And I realize you can both say that it is only my interpretation of 
the MOQ and that your interpretation is just as valid. I think Arlo 
recently argued that point with me.

[Arlo]
To clarify, I specifically (and repeatedly) have argued AGAINST the 
"interpretist" take. But I must've not made my point well, since you 
seem to be attributing the very opposite to me.

You also use this word, "interpretation", below in away that bothers me.

[Dan]
Your interpretations run contrary to what the MOQ is saying. And as 
long as they do, they are not high quality interpretations of the MOQ.

[Arlo]
What you are saying, is that for "interpretations" to be "high 
quality" they cannot run contrary to what the MOQ is saying. This is 
a peculiar use of "interpretation" because the very allowance for 
"interpretation" is that we don't know "what the MOQ is saying" apart 
from some or such other "interpretation".

You could remedy this, I think, by using "representations" in place 
of "interpretations" at the end of the sentence, as such.

Your interpretations run contrary to what the MOQ is saying. And as 
long as they do, they are not high quality representations of the MOQ.

This makes more sense, as it agrees with your stance that there is 
one MOQ and deviations from this are "interpretations" and not 
accurate recounts of "what the MOQ says".

But again, if you restate your sentence with "Pirsig" replacing "the 
MOQ", maybe you can see this clearly.

Your interpretations run contrary to what Pirsig is saying. And as 
long as they do, they are not high quality interpretations of Pirsig.

Let me ask you this, do you think there is any difference between 
"restating" and "interpreting"? Because you seem to saying that only 
"restatements" are high-quality "interpretations", and that's 
conflating two distinct words.

A "restatement" would be phrasing what Pirsig said in new words, with 
no loss of meaning or alterations in intent. Is this what you think 
"interpretation" is?