Alasdair Macintyre Poem by Sidi Mahtrow

In explaining most anything
Alasdair MacIntyre is certainly boring
As he begins to dissect
His perception of different “facts”.

Like Richard who if you asked the time of day
Would spent the first five minutes explaining away
How a clock is made up of its many parts
And their relationship to all the internal works.

Then when the hour’s past
Richard would give you the time at last
Which had no meaning at that time
For the necessity had past; a minor crime?

So Alasdair begins to explain the subject of the hour
By exploring all the literature of which he’s aware
Bit by bit, spinning a story
That somehow becomes increasingly boring.

And his sentences go on and on
With seldom punctuation to sound a gong
That here’s where the meat of the argument is
Hidden far away from the subject by many a clause.

He should be made to diagram his sentences
In school-like exercise in serving penitence.
So that he can understand
What communication is like to his fellow man.

With his choice of words so rare
Would be nice if he provided a thesaurus there
To (in a brief moment if at all possible) explain
Just exactly what was the intent and so exclaim.
(Perhaps in a footnote?)

But no, he writes for those who supposedly understand
The precepts flowing from his pen.
Pity the poor editor or friend who was commissioned
To review this horrendous submission.

For they unlike the reader such as you
Had an obligation to read and understand the author’s spew.
So that any errors of judgment could be corrected
Before in review, the philosopher is drawn and quartered.

S

On reading (or attempted to read) , “After Virtue” by Alasdair MacIntyre. University of Notre Dame Press,1981. A quote:

On heroic poetry, two central claims: “The first is that that structure embodies a conceptual scheme which has three central interrelated elements: a conception of what is required by the social role which each individual inhabits; a conception of excellences or virtues as those qualities which enable an individual to do what his or her role requires, and a conception of the human condition as fragile and vulnerable to destiny and to death, such that to be virtuous is not to avoid vulnerability and death, but rather to accord them their due.” pp 121.

Perhaps he was named well: Alas, dair’