From: David Buchanan (DBuchanan@ClassicalRadio.org)
Date: Sun Jul 20 2003 - 20:38:21 BST
Rick, Erin, Steve and all:
Steve said:
Phaedrus thought Lila was "intellectually" nowhere, and that intellectual
quality was "outside her range". Well, if this were LITERALLY true, then
Phaedrus himself must sub-retarted, because if you read carefully, you'll
note that it's Lila who outsmarts Phaedrus when they argue about beauty...
SHE argued HIM to a standstill. She.. intellectually smacked him down with
his own philosophy.
dmb says:
Oh, good. Its about time. We disagree entirely, Rick. Well, maybe not
entirely, but this is still gonna be fun. I think you've misread this
dialogue. (below) Sam and I discussed this very briefly once. He used the
same passage to show how "smart" Lila is. But I think it only shows her
limitations. It shows what she's not capable of understanding. She is unable
to understand why the fake, tacky boat is NOT beautiful. She's not going to
understand any answer he provides. Historical authenticity just ain't gonna
turn her on no matter what he says about it. Maybe that cheesey tourist trap
was decorated with hundreds of tiny light bulbs or was powered by
deisel/electric. She doesn't know or care that such things didn't exist in
the riverboat era, but the Captain is likely to roll his eyes and be a
little disappointed by that kind of thing. Its beyond her range, so she
doesn't see how beautiful it ain't. And why does she think he's stupid?
Because "he doesn't even know what a hustler is". Because he has share her
street smarts, her biological value system! (I don't know about you, HBO
taught me nearly everything I know about prostitutes, but I don't think that
makes me stupid. It just means I don't pay for sex.) He's showing us that
old comedic situation of the dorky nerd who can't dance and the pretty girl
who laughs at him on the bus, the Sherlock Holmes and Mae West thing. Their
values systems are such, he says, that both have to lower their standards to
get together. He's got to get over her lack of intellect and she has to get
past his less than buff old nerdy ass. This is all meant to demonstate a gap
between their value systems. They can't really communicate with each other.
The 2nd and 4th levels need the social level as a middle term. Oh, look!
Here comes Rigel. Maybe he can be their translator....
PIRSIG (LILA ch 10, p150)
"...A pretty boat doesn't have all that fake gingerbread and phony
smokestacks."
Lila took the pamphlet back. "It's a very beautiful boat," she said.
The Captain shook his head. "Beauty isn't things trying to look like
something else."
*He's* something else, Lila thought.
"Beauty is things just being what they are," he said. "There probably
isn't one thing on that boat that's original."
"Why does it have to be original?"
"It's *play*-acting, It's *make*-believe."
"What difference does *that* make? If it's what people like?
He didn't have an answer for that.
PIRSIG (LILA ch10 p151 )
A smokestack. A big blowhard smokestack, that's what he is... He thinks
he's so smart. It's all over his face. And he's *not* smart. He's
*stupid*. He doesn't know *anything*. He doesn't even know what a hustler
is. He doesn't even know how stupid he is.
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