Not sure I Know it when I see it...

[C. Endicott]

On Thu, 20 Feb 1997, Henry M wrote:

> Says me. When I take my razor and scrape your nerve endings. Maybe 
> I'm wrong, though. Maybe you're just a figment of my computer. Maybe 
> it's OK to hurt you. Who's to say?

Ouch. Hey, that smarts!
 
> I think that you misinterpret TP if you think that he is a moral 
> relativist. Moral relativism is, I hate to say it, a lot of academic 
> bulldada. The search for a global community is a search for common 
> ground, not the negation that comes with the cheap nilhilism. Ayn 
> Rand and Nietzche may inspire you; I think they're pathetic.

Actually, I was responding to "cultural relativism", which I think is a
totally different creature... but:

I wasn't saying TP is a moral relativist; I was saying I think he points
to the difficulty of putting concepts like "right" and "wrong"
into clear-cut "meaningful" categories without a whole slew of personal
baggage coming into play...

Not really a big fan of Rand or Neitzche...if anything, in my opinion they
were the type of dogmatic categorizers I am concerned about. All the
*wrong* kind of paranoia... 
 
Nor am I into cheap nihilism... quite the opposite, actually, which is
precisely why I included that bit about people I worked with-  real flesh
and blood people I have sweated with, got drunk with, fought with- some of
them are "racists", some are "christians", some are "chemical abusers"...
but none of those categories do them justice either, as they are all a
unique blend of experiences/emotions/etc- and if the "straight world" has
taught me anything, it is that people rarely conform to your expectations.

I *am* a big fan of the global community, which I think is why this struck
such a nerve in me- I just don't think one builds it by making blanket
statements... 

Peace and Slack!
CLE