Rick
I think that it does not matter which one has more intellectual
quality. The thing with history is that is subjective to the people
there. For instance you and I could both witness the same event so then
we both would have our own perspectives on what occurred. Neither one
of us is wrong in the sense because there is no absolute truth which is
what I believe Mr. Pirsig was saying with his books. For instance in
Lila the Victorians believed that people should act one way and that was
with the highest moral sense in their opinion. While others acted
differently. neither group was more or less right. one was just
stagnant and unwilling to grow but that did not make them wrong. I
think in response to your question Newspaper 1 has more intellectual
quality if that is in fact what Mr. Armstrong said. I was neither on
the moon or alive at this time so I could not say with 100% accuracy
what he said. But the truth to the speaker should have the highest
intellectual significance so newspaper 1 has more quality.
Sean
-----Original Message-----
From: valence10 [mailto:valence10@hotmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 5:16 PM
To: moq.discuss
Cc: valence10
Subject: MD History
Hey all,
In the thread previously known as "MOQ as a moral guide," Platt and
I
debated whether or not the plan to change the races of two firefighters
in
the now-defunct fireman's memorial made the statue 'historically
inaccurate'. I won't go into the specifics of the debate, the posts are
there for anyone interested.
However, today I thought of brief example which I believe may be
evidence for the proposition that in some cases 'historical accuracy'
could
be outright detrimental to Intellectual Quality, and I wanted to put it
before the forum to get some input....
(I gathered these facts from an article a professor gave me years
ago.
For our purposes, it doesn't even matter whether they are true... Treat
it
as a hypothetical:)
In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.
In
fear that the astronaut to first step out would say something
lackluster,
NASA had provided their man with an inspirational line to quip as he
made
history. They gave him, "That's one small step for a man, one giant
leap
for mankind." However, when Armstong in fact uttered the famous line,
what
came out was, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for man
kind."
Armstrong missed the 'a' in 'a man' and made his statement an
absurdity... basically what he said was the equivalent of "That's one
small
step for man(kind), one giant leap for mankind." NASA would later argue
that a 'static glitch' had muted the 'a', but recordings seem to lack
any
glitches in the conspicuous spot (clips of quip are common on the net if
anyone refuses to take my word for it)--- Odds are, Armstrong just
goofed.
The following day the 3 newspapers in the town we live in each wrote
a
story about the event. (1) One newpaper wrote the quote as Armstong
actually
said it [without the 'a']. (2) One newspaper printed the story as if
Armstong had said the quote correctly [with the 'a']. (3) One printed a
correction, and noted that it had done so.
Now... Paper (1) has printed a story that is 100% accurate, but in
which
Armstrong's message is nonsense statement. Paper (2) has printed a
story
that is historically inaccurate, but in which Armstrong's message makes
sense. Paper (3) has balanced things out by printing the quote as
Armstrong
said it (without the 'a'), but pointing out that Armstrong had goofed
and
tfixing it for him by also printing a corrected version.
I don't think I would be out of line in saying that we'd all agree
that
paper (3) printed the story of the highest Intellectual Quality. Their
story
was 'historically accurate' and allowed the 'Intellectual content' of
Armstong's intended message to get through by pointing out his error.
This
version is Roger's 'win/win' ideal.
But I ask ya'll now: Of papers (1) and (2) respectively, which
story do
you think had more Intellectual Quality?
rick
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