Hi Rick, Andrea, Erin, Horse:
> RICK
> Oh I get it now... You think that every 'absolute statement' is an
> 'absolute truth'. You've missed Pirsig's main point Platt. He uses the
> word 'always' twice in that quote, and makes all of those absolute
> statements you point to... BUT THEY'RE ALL WRITTEN IN PENCIL!!!
>
> Nothing written in pencil is absolute, no matter what words are used.
Neither Pirsig nor science nor lawyers can erase absolutely true
statements about the Holocaust, the loss of lives in the attack on the
Trade Center, the murder of Daniel Pearl and a million and one other
absolute realities of everyday life and living. Your statement brings up
the frightening prospect of renewing the Communist practice of
"erasing" certain persons from photographs due to their suddenly
revealed treason and of other "politically correct" rewrites of history.
No, I'm afraid your "written in pencil" defense against my contention
that many truths are absolute won't convince a jury, including when
Pirsig says "always" he means "always." I would compare your
defense to the "forked-tongue" suspicions of American Indians, and
wind up my summary to them by quoting the following from the
"Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam":
"The Moving Finger writes; and having writ,
Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it."
Platt
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