TS is too much like Swift's "modest proposal," to risk being read as
either edifying or subtle. "Tenderness leads to the gas chambers!"
"Qualitarianism" (the dominant secular culture in the U.S.?) linked to
pedophila and the holocaust!
Tom More's view of life changed (LitR) when his daughter's brain tumor
pushed her eye out of its socket. A couple of years cutting grass
straightened that out? Or was it the gentle priest in LitR who gave him
absolution when he confessed he was sorry he wasn't sorry? Or his shame
that his middle aged lust was nothing but hyperactive fantasy distracting
him from real life?
Tom More does both Harry Stack Sullivan and biopsychiatry, and his cuz'n
is an epidemiologist and hacker par excellence; he has little reason to
worry about what the Qualitarian world thinks. They need him and he
doesn't need them. That's clear.
But why does Tom More need Fr. S? Ken suggests all that separates TM
from Fr. S. is his weak, lapsed tendency to worry too much about what
his "friends" would think if he got too close to a real prophet. I
don't find that credible, because if true, it trivializes its own
premisses: the covenant is not a deal and the "friends" are a bunch of
jerks.
I don't think Walker Percy could have written the "happy ending" version
of Job. Challenge the whirlwind, do a little "good time" and get
your kids and the farm back.
I'm still puzzled about the relationship of Tom More Fr. S. and Walker Percy.
Cheers,
Ed Manier
A. Edward Manier, Professor
Philosophy & History and Philosophy of Science
Reilly Center for Science, Technology and Values
314 Decio
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame, IN 46556
(o) 219-631-6520
FAX 219-631-8209
Dept 219-631-6471
http://www.nd.edu/~amanier/index.html