Gerhard wrote, "When this has had some time to settle, I hope we can talk
about if the MoQ can help us understand why people can hate the western
society this much, and if there is something we can do to reduce this hate."
Jeremy wrote, "There should be much care in how this situation is handled"
and, ". these terrorist attacks should be viewed as a reflection of
anti-American sentimentality that has been growing by leaps and bounds both
in the world as a whole and within America itself."
To go after the terrorists and all harboring states as though they are germs
is not the entire answer. This approach appears at face value to be broader
than what we are capable of at the moment without extenuating the conflicts.
It is as though we route out the germs and the sickness goes away. Pirsig in
ZMM: "But to tear down a factory or to revolt against a government or to
avoid repair of a motorcycle because it is a system is to attack effects
rather than causes; and as long as the attack is upon effects only, no
change is possible. The true system, the real system, is our present
construction of systematic thought itself, rationality itself, and if a
factory is torn down but the rationality which produced it is left standing,
then that rationality will simply produce another factory."
As Jeremy aptly notes, "America must wake from its isolationism and it's
constant pursuit of personal gain." Indeed, 20% of our population controls
about 85% of the wealth in this nation, the top 1% owns 40%. The income
disparity has continued to climb. At nearly 300 million in population we
account for 5% of the world population of 6 billion, but use nearly 25% or
the world's energy supplies. Not surprisingly, this corresponds to our
accounting for roughly 25% of global emissions (and our pulling away from
the Kyoto accords doesn't, in my opinion, help our image). From a world
perspective, 500 of the largest industrial corporations control 25% of the
world's economic output but employ only one twentieth of one percent of the
world's population. From an environmental perspective, beyond the classic
problems of poverty and warfare, we have begun to face limitations in the
earth's resources. We are currently degrading our environment and taxing our
resources at a rate faster than the earth can replenish itself.
Perhaps the MOQ would suggest that there are better moral alternatives to
the activities that overly tax our resources. The reason; biology needs the
inorganic to survive and there is good reason to suggest there is a threat -
State of the World reported in 1995 that, "Three of the earth's natural
limits are already slowing the growth in world food production: the
sustainable yield of oceanic fisheries, the amount of fresh water produced
by the hydrological cycle, and the amount of fertilizer that existing crop
varieties can effectively use."
Perhaps the MOQ would suggest that there are better moral alternatives to
the activities that promote inordinate disparities in resource use, wealth
and income. The reason; these huge disparities can needlessly cause
incredible individual and social disruption. It is not to say that the
disparities are problematic, but it is when the disparities are inordinate
that they necessarily will disrupt social activities. They are not necessary
to the pursuit of freedom. Sounds more like biological patterns of greed; a
far cry from a pursuit of greater dynamic quality.
I am not condoning or justifying the terrorist activities in any way. I am
simply setting forth some likely reasons for the intense anger against
America.
Platt noted, 'Thankfully most Americans, despite years of intellectual
leftist propaganda, can still recognize a biological threat from barbarians
when they see one. Pirsig wrote: "Society can handle biology alone by means
of prisons and guns and police and the military. But when the intellectuals
in control of society take biology's side against society then society is
caught in a cross fire from which is has no protection." LILA, Chap. 24.'
Perhaps the intellectuals of current society who control resources, wealth,
and income are siding with their biological patterns to a degree that not
only threatens inorganic, biological, and social patterns, but do so beyond
what is necessary for the pursuit of freedom. If so, it is not freedom that
they are after, and there is far more to this conflict than routing out some
germs.
Ed
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