> -----Original Message-----
> From: Platt Holden [SMTP:pholden5@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Thursday, December 30, 1999 10:23 AM
> To: moq_discuss@moq.org
> Subject: MD The Leuchter Case
>
> DMB responds to Platt's quest to use the MOQ to discriminate between
> criminals and revolutionaries. Good Topic.
>
> Let me say right up front that I don't think FL is a criminal or a
> revolutionary. Crumb, Leary or Morris himself would have made better
> subjects. And I don't think we have enough info to do justice to the
> question even if we had the perfect example. We just don't know enough
> abut FL or the case.
>
> NY POST:
> Is amiable Fred Leuchter guilty of thoughtlessness, of leading an
> unexamined life? Yes, but Morris says this blindness comes not from
> neglecting to think; it comes from turning his mind's eye away from
> reality to the "truth" one would prefer to see. "That's more disturbing,
> construing the world to suit your own purposes, despite evidence to the
> contrary," he says.
>
> DMB: This is the crux of it, no? The film makers words seem to describe FL
> well enough. FL intentionally ignored a mountain of evidence, including
> eye witnes accounts, court records, photographs and the testimony of those
> who participated in running the camps. That's the reality that FL
> intentiaonally ignored in order to reach his conclusions. Obvisouly, the
> man is very disturbed and his blindness is easy for all of us to see. And
> I think that Morris is right to suggest that blindness is something we
> should all examine in ourselves. I hope you remember that I've already
> tried to make the same point, describing the NAZIs as "not-sees" who
> were blind to intellectual level values.
>
> Evil people don't think they're evil. They see themselves as defenders,
> but the evil comes from defending a lower level against the rightful
> restraint of the higher values. They're defending karmic garbage. There is
> no respect for science or reality, just the cause of neo-NAZI revisionism.
> Its not criminal or revolutionary, its just foolish and dangerous
> non-sense.
>
> PLATT:
> If there are many truths, why isn't Leuchter's as good as anyone's?
>
> DMB: His truth was decided in spite of the evidence, not because of it.
>
> PLATT:
> Was the Canadian court, representing social values, acting morally when it
>
> threw out his report?
>
> DMB: The courts are not just social. They are also dealing in rights,
> principles, and the fair weighing of evidence. Its not perfect and its not
> science, but its not just social either. It seems that any report that
> starts with a conclusion, can't be considered valid or scientific. I can't
> fault the courts for throwing it out because the report's conclusion
> apparently contradicts a mountain of evidence. There's only one choice in
> a contest between the report and the mountain.
>
> PLATT:
> How do MoQ principles prevent one from "turning his mind's eye away from
> reality to the "truth" one would prefer to see?"
>
> DMB: I've thought about this issue quite a lot and it seems that it is not
> a philosophical question so much as a mental health issue. Its not about
> intelligence or understanding so much as emotional and psychological
> needs.
>
> PLATT:
> Is the author correct in calling Leuchter a "metaphor for us all in this
> century
> in which much evil has been committed and defended by people who
> believed they were doing good?"
>
> DMB: No. The author's assertion is just to vague. Everyone thinks they're
> doing good, so her statement is about as meaningful as saying "evil has
> been commited by people with legs." I really do think the blindness issue
> is where its at. The theme song of the 20th century, as Pirsig describes
> it, is a battle between social and intellectual values. And the defenders
> of the lower level values can only do so out of blindness.
>
> Thanks for your time.
>
>
>
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