[MD] Who are the MOQ's best friends?

[Dan Glover]

Hello everyone

On Fri, Jul 22, 2011 at 11:26 AM, Steven Peterson
<peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Dan,
>
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 11:48 PM, Dan Glover <daneglover at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hello everyone
>>
>> On Thu, Jul 21, 2011 at 8:37 PM, Steven Peterson
>> <peterson.steve at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> LC annotation 126. "God knows, the MOQ has never had two better
>>> friends than Bo and Platt."
>>
>> Dan:
>>
>> Yes... notice how skillfully Robert Pirsig uses praise to lessen the
>> impact of telling Bo and Platt that they're wrong:
>>
>> "... so this is no criticism of their otherwise
>> brilliant thinking. It’s just that I see a lowering of the
>> quality of the MOQ itself if you follow this path of
>> subordinating it to that which it opposes." [RMP annotation 126]
>>
>> Dan comments:
>>
>> Really, we could learn a great deal from this here. And God (it is
>> meant as a literary device, not an actual statement of belief) knows I
>> am as guilty as the next person in condemning and criticizing.
>>
>> Just something to consider,  that's all.
>
>
> Steve:
> That's a great point.

Dan:
Is that so?

>
> What was interesting to me in reflecting on that quote is how clueless
> the great author seems to be about who the MOQ's friends and enemies
> are.

Dan:

"Great author" is a term of derision and not of respect.

>Steve:
> Perhaps dmb has already risen to the level of the brilliant Platt and
> Bo in the esteem of Pirsig. What a thrill it must be to be counted
> among their number!

Dan:

So much for my "great point"...

>Steve:
> Newton had Bacon, Darwin had Huxley, and Jesus had Paul of Tarsus who
> managed to take a wise man's teaching in response to persecution and
> turn it into a religion which itself became a tool of persecution.
> Heretics must be dealt with and harshly. There is no room for parallel
> valid interpretations. There can be only one answer to every question,
> and it must be phrased in the words chosen by the Bulldog--a
> narcissist who can only stomach hearing his own words parroted back to
> him. All other phrasings even of pretty much the same notions are
> heresies which must be expunged before they spread.
>
> How would a narcissistic Bulldog be as a teacher?

Dan:

My quip to dmb about being a good teacher was meant to be more in
humor than maliciousness. Hopefully he knows that even if you do not.

Steve:
> It will go something
> like this: "Schools teach you to imitate. If you don't imitate what
> the teacher wants you get a bad grade. Here, in college, it was more
> sophisticated, of course; you were supposed to imitate the teacher in
> such a way as to convince the teacher you were not imitating, but
> taking the essence of the instruction and going ahead with it on your
> own. That got you A's."

Dan:

Aren't you a teacher, Steve?

Thank you,

Dan