From: Arlo J. Bensinger (ajb102@psu.edu)
Date: Tue May 10 2005 - 16:32:39 BST
Platt,
[You wrote]
There have been a number of conservative contributors to MOQ Discuss over the
years. Like me, they have found plenty in Pirsig's philosophy to support
right-wing ideas, the most notable being the MOQ's view that freedom is the
highest value of all.
[Arlo replies]
I couldn't let this one go, as it is fairly good evidence of Rovian dialectic
tactics, namely the subtle rhetorical pairing of "right-wing ideas" and
"freedom" (and of course, the oppositional pairing it implies of "left-wing
ideas" and "non-freedom").
I and likely ALL the "leftist, secularist, non-right, non-Christians" on the
list are also motivated by the MOQ advocacy of "freedom". But both "left-wing"
and "right-wing" ideology per se is nothing by absurdly hypocritical to claim
to be "for freedom".
For example, "Freedom", for the right, is strictly a marketplace phenomenon.
Freedom to bring goods to market, to pay unregulated wages, to move factories
to maximize profit, etc. The underlying support for this is the view that
individuals are fully free to purchase or not purchase goods, to find new work,
to sell their labor as they see fit, and are unmanipulated by advertising in
their purchasing decisions.
Outside the marketplace, there is no "freedom" in right-wing ideology.
"Morality" is heavily regulated by promotion of Victorian, Judeo-Christian
social codes. The MOQ is used only to justify rigorous and uncritical
acceptance of social patterns.
The left views the "freedom of the marketplace" as inherently able to only
create "freedom" for a few, while denying it to the many (reminiscent of the
later part of the 19th century). The underlying support for this is the view
that individuals are not fully free to sell their labor, to find new work, or
to make unmanipulated purchasing decisions. Thus, "freedom for the many" comes
at a cost to "freedom for the few".
However, the "left" has not moved to empower the many, only to manipulate their
disempowerment to strengthen its political clout. "Freedom for the many" has
become a product of government giveaway.
And all the while, people who could be effecting true change, real change,
Quality change :-), in the system sit back and uncritically adhere to their
"ideology"... which is usually the one that they have some power-vesting
within.
Arlo
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