From: Rudy (rudy_o_2000@yahoo.com)
Date: Sun Dec 15 2002 - 20:57:37 GMT
To All,
Greetings once more from New Jersey. Thanks to
everyone for your interesting comments. I'm going to
ponder them for a bit, although I may return from
Lurkersville later on with some questions. For now,
though, I would simply suggest that you more closely
consider the application and extension of Pirsig's
ideas to practical issues, e.g. specific current
issues relating to legislation, court decisions, law
enforcement, prisons, medical issues and decisions,
tribalism vs. one-worldism, poverty, spiritual
longings, racial prejudice, Al Qaeda, capitalism,
personal freedoms in times of terrorism, parenting,
government clean-air regulations, the social effects
of technology, inequalities in income distribution,
school vouchers, etc. (If you're stuck for ideas, just
get out a copy of a newspaper or Time mag and randomly
pick out some articles). Pirsig seemed to go out of
his way in his books to exemplify his theories based
on real world issues and situations. I myself feel
that his "latches" were a bit loose in many instances,
which is to say that I feel that his MOQ paradigms are
not yet robust enough to be presented to society as
the recommended basis for thinking, acting and
governing. Thus I am not surprised that over the past
decade, Pirsig's ideas have not had a lasting effect
on academia, education, government, the courts, the
media, the social sciences or anywhere else. But I
suspect that they represent a valuable step in the
right direction, and thus should not be lost. IMHO,
something more is needed by western society, given my
belief that our basic social presumptions have not
kept up with the effects of rapid technological and
economic change ("Future Shock" and all that).
If you good people see yourselves as the keepers of
the flame that Mr. Pirsig lit, and if you agree that
his ideas must continue to evolve and improve, then I
would suggest that you more closely emulate Mr. Pirsig
in the commendable attempts he made in his books to
"get real". Fearfully going out on a limb even
further that I already am, I hereby assert my believe
that the biggest ideas will remain but hothouse
flowers unless they are thrown against the sharp edges
of the struggles experienced in daily living, such as
those experienced by members of the sweaty, huddled,
uncultured masses on the turnpikes and in the malls
here in New Jersey, merrily consuming OPEC oil in huge
air-conditioned SUVs while hoping not to be the next
targets of intercontinental terrorism. I think that
Mr. Pirsig's ideas, incomplete and imperfect as they
are, deserve better than to remain hothouse flowers.
My best wishes for the Holidays,
Rudy O.
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