From: Patsloane-AT-aol.com
Date: Mon, 17 Nov 1997 18:36:20 -0500 (EST)
Subject: PLC: Brian Connery


> Again nicely put.  But I think that this illustrates the
>  catch-22 in a model of discourse based on the principle of
>  tolerance. 

Brian Connery,

Aren't you on the wrong list?  On PL you'll find many kindred souls--or at
least one owner and three mods-- who entirely agree with you that tolerance
is "philosophically" indefensible, or doesn't fit their agenda.  I actually
got kicked off the list by Ogden once for saying people ought to be tolerant
of other people's religions.  Ogden warned me privately to shut up, that
nobody on Phil-Lit liked my ideas about religion. As Myers was off in a sulk
somewhere at the time, I figured Ogden was getting into me for being Jewish.
 So I asked what I had said about religion that bothered him.  And when he
wouldn't answer, I posted my question to the list, figuring to bow out in
style.

I now understand the problem, for the very first time.  I wasn't as wise and
learned as you, and missed the point that religious tolerance--and indeed
tolerance generally-- is "philosophically" indefensible.  So, if I understand
you correctly,  we all have an obligation to practice intolerance, or at
least not to interefere with those who make intolerance the core of their
agenda. 

Well, if you start out with airy fairy ideas like your thesis that the nasty
right to free speech came from the nasty capitalist manifesto (whatever that
is), I rather understand how you arrive at this Disneyland conclusion.
 You're really a Professor of Economics? At the university of California?  

Can't swear that Denis sent you over here.  But your certainly know he's
reading every word you say (as is Andreas),  and that what you're saying
sounds exactly as if it came out of his mouth, or out of Andreas' mouth or
David's mouth.  So I figure you may be here largely to curry favor with Denis
by being as silly, frivolous, and disruptive as you can.  What puzzles me is
the quid pro quo.  What can Denis do for you next?  Make you the head of his
"governing board?" mention your name in his press releases?

You not only sound exactly like DDD and the 3 MMs, but you've even absorbed
their MO. Myers usually goes for whomever he perceives as weak. Like clobber
a student half his age.  And here you are zeroing right in to trash our  only
undergraduate, as if you assumed he'd be a pushover.  How old are you,
"Professor?"  35, 45, 55? Actually, we have a high school student too.  And
if he isn't young enough for you, I can bring around my 8 year old nephew.
 But first I'd like to see what you do with Thad.

pat sloane


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