Greetings,
OK, change of mind, I really shall lie low after this one, but, first,
answers to Peter and dkm should explain some things:
Peter. It is a combination of my, "brave attempt . . . . etc", and the fact
that if someone abuses me, I have a good go back. Simple as that. If someone
wants to pick a fight, I am happy to oblige. There is no big mystery to it.
The usual course of events is this. 1) I put forward an argument. 2) Someone
else puts forward a counter argument. 3) I reasonably show them why I think
they are wrong. 2 & 3 then alternate for a greater or lesser period of time
until my antagonist decides that he cannot win and so tells me that one
shouldn't be applying logic to the moq anyway and that I must be pretty
stupid because I have missed the point of it all. I then inform him he is
being a hypocrite as he has, indeed, been applying logic to the moq himself
and that, just because he loses the argument, he shouldn't now want to
change the rules. It degenerates from there with me giving much better than
I get. As for wanting to win. Yes, I want to win in the sense that I want as
many people as possible to see that Pirsig got it wrong when he claimed that
'Quality is morality', that the moq subscribes to 'empiricism' and that
'ethics and science can be integrated into a single system'.
dkm. Of course, you will have to take my word for it, but it is BECAUSE I
have such excellent relationships in the rest of my life that I don't care
what people here think of me. It is ONLY here that I have ever had a problem
with anyone!!! Far from being rejected in 'real' life, I have been given a
double promotion at work starting in September (partly because I get on so
well with my superiors, students and parents), I have as many tutees as I
can take on (our students choose their own tutor!), which, to me, is a huge
compliment. I have the most talented and beautiful wife with the best
marriage one could ever dream of and a very wide circle of excellent
friends, all of them extremely, successful, well liked and respected in
their fields. I have a large and hugely supportive family and love them all
to bits, as they do me. I have lots of people telling me how enjoyable my
music is, a big house and pots of cash to reflect my success. That is why,
when the Dross's and Horse's of this world have a go at me, I can sit back
and smile. I'm even demonstrably successful on this forum. Horse's imaginary
'boycott' has left a 'mere' 23 of this months 32 contributors (at one
cursory count) responding directly to me and out of 155 messages so far, the
OVERWHELMING majority have been about what I have said. Admittedly, some of
them (ALL of Horse's for example) have done nothing but attack my person,
but that is beside the point and something Horse needs to ask himself about.
I also get a very slow but steady amount of public and private praise from
members thanking me for my contributions. Considering the torrents of abuse
I face on a daily basis, I think I do very well indeed.
If you think I am some kind of sad git, struggling against the world and his
own self-hatred then you couldn't be further from the truth. Do you really
think that I would continue deliberately to put myself up for the kind of
hateful and spiteful comment I receive here if I wasn't utterly secure in
myself and very very happy with my lot in life?? I expect another round of
messages from people desperate to believe that I, deep down, am very unhappy
and that my protestations to the contrary are further proof. Sorry to
disappoint, but if it makes you feel good to think of me as unhappy, then
who am I to take that from you?
Actually, Horse has made one substantive contribution in the last couple of
months. He just recently answered my criticisms by stating that if one
starts from a Quality position the ethical examples make good sense. This is
undeniably true and beyond rational refutation. Similarly, if one starts
from a chocolate cake position, then it is beyond rational refutation that
all the world is composed of chocolate cake. Horse may find that argument
convincing. I think it is profoundly defeatist.
Now that last paragraph contains just the kind of incisive, direct, relevant
and clearly accurate argument that really gets up some people's noses when I
forward it. That is their insecurity not mine.
Bye for now,
Struan
PS Incidentally, I agree with 3WD about the anonymity problem on the
internet. That is why I don't tend to hide behind pseudonyms like 3WD, dkm,
Horse, Drose and many others.
Struan Hellier
<mailto:struan@clara.co.uk>
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