Rant 39: The Illness

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Rant 39
The Illness Known as Obedience

"civil disobedience. . . is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem
is that numbers of people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of the leaders of
their government and have gone to war, and millions have been killed because of this
obedience. . . Our problem is that people are obedient all over the world in the face of
poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people
are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves, and all the while the grand thieves
are running the country. That's our problem."
-Howard Zinn (Failure to Quit, p. 45)

[This Rant was formerly known as ‘the Epistle to the Slaves’]

Let’s cut the crap. You are not looking for freedom. You are simply looking for a better master to serve. The only reason why you are searching for a better master, is because you believe you deserve better comforts. Whether your new master goes by the name of Anarchism, Discordianism, or Jesus Christ, it doesn’t matter. You spout the dogmas and myths of freedom only because they make you feel better about your trading of one master for another.

Sestren and brethren, you had better vomit that crap right up.

That crap is why you are always constantly obeying something, someone, or that thing you call ego. You cry about the abuses of one group of masters while you feel content to live under another group of masters. And you think yourselves better, or freer in your example of slavery? Inside, you hate yourselves for this. That is why some of you are pretending to prove yourselves free and uninhibited by doing and planning all sorts of daring and bold heroic actions. Suckers! Actions of that sort are only done to impress the masters. Do you think that intentionally getting your ass kicked by cops or by intentionally going to jail, that you are freeing yourselves? Suckers! That kind of crap used to be unaffectionately known as the ‘honkey’ or ‘white radical’ syndrome here in the States during a time when all sorts of pretentious revolutionaries were trying to bluff the government.

To be free, you avoid overt fighting and struggle. Have you ever heard of the old Taoist sages who lived under a totalitarian slavery that makes today’s States look like a playground? Read the words they left behind. You pick and choose your battles. You don’t let the masters simply pick you off so that you can make some stupid statement. History is littered with those failed pretensions. And where have they gotten us? Into a better slavery that allows us more comforts, sure. But not freedom. The masters are adept at manipulating that will to be free to keep you enslaved at any price. And they have convinced you to pay the overhead costs for it. Suckers!

It is so easy… you are all so sleepy… Will you ever realize that this is your life!? Wake yourself the fuck up, or I will set fire to your bobdamned toes! I will do it just to set you off in discord against your masters, and in the resulting fracas, I will find the space to escape, yet again…and continue on my merry way to bring Eris to this walled-up world.

You may ask me, “well, then how do I know I am free?” I am telling you now that if you have to ask that question, you will miss the answer. Freedom is an abstraction until it becomes a way of life. And only you can define the parameters by which you will live, whether or not you choose to own your life. But whatever you choose, you are not safe from the Apple of Discord regardless. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, unless I am. Years ago, the Purple Monkey Mafia had a campaign actually directed against ‘weekend Discordians’ not because we thought ourselves better Discordians, but because it was so damned funny seeing the shock on some of their faces. Some of them had assumed that they were exempt from Eris’s Apple. Hah! Suckers!

You can’t even be sure that you are free unless you are full of the pretense of freedom, so why should I assume that you are free? Sucker!

Repent, sinners!

“Or kill me.”
-The Good Reverend Roger

(Confusion 10th, 3170)

[Trollax]

To be free, you avoid overt fighting and struggle. Have you ever heard of the old Taoist sages who lived under a totalitarian slavery that makes today,Äôs States look like a playground? Read the words they left behind. You pick and choose your battles. You don,Äôt let the masters simply pick you off so that you can make some stupid statement. History is littered with those failed pretensions. And where have they gotten us? Into a better slavery that allows us more comforts, sure. But not freedom. The masters are adept at manipulating that will to be free to keep you enslaved at any price. And they have convinced you to pay the overhead costs for it. Suckers!

...

You may ask me, ,Äúwell, then how do I know I am free?,Äù I am telling you now that if you have to ask that question, you will miss the answer. Freedom is an abstraction until it becomes a way of life. And only you can define the parameters by which you will live, whether or not you choose to own your life. But whatever you choose, you are not safe from the Apple of Discord regardless. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying, unless I am. Years ago, the Purple Monkey Mafia had a campaign actually directed against ,Äòweekend Discordians,Äô not because we thought ourselves better Discordians, but because it was so damned funny seeing the shock on some of their faces. Some of them had assumed that they were exempt from Eris,Äôs Apple. Hah! Suckers!

Go Hugh!

It's so wonderful to find another soul on the same wavelength but a different polarity is it not? Eris siad that we are free, and it's nothing she did or didn't do. It's the simple fact of reality that the taoist sages knew. I found an old letter I'd written to the office of the prime minister which I won't be sending until such time as I'm back from the US (for reasons that will become apparent) In it. I cordially inform my CIC that I declare myself a voluntary citizen and participate in this buearocratic nightmare called democracy of my own free will, I don't run out into the streets hacking up my neighbours with an axe because I excercise my restraint not my fear of authority (even though the cops can be downright bastards and scary mofo's)
If I'm just being a pretentious tree-hugging semi-choirboy then may Eris roger me senseless, at least it's an interesting way of realising you're full of it eh?

Or Kill Me
Sam the Plagairist

[SMFabal]

Ah, see, I chose different. I had a cusp, one path was freedom, the other was comfort. I chose comfort.

On the other hand, it was my choice

[Bella]

One of my brothers made the same choice, Fabal. He sat down and thought long and hard before deciding which path to take. So far, he says he feels it was the right one for him. I have to agree with you that the important thing is that it was your own choice.

[Horab Fibslager]

i am quite comfortable where i am.

tao juice will do that to you tho

[Lister]

I never regret the choice of lifestyle I have...

Not many people will agree to my lifestyle/personal code...
(won't go into detail about what my personal code entails, it is full of contradiction anyway)

But that's because it's my lifestyle and not theirs...

I know that I am not truly free, but I also know that I am not a slave...
I'm not a shepherd, but not a sheep either...
I do not strive to be free, because striving to be free excludes being a slave...
I strive to be everything at once, at the same time, constantly...

It's probably not within the physical laws of the universe, but if you're gonna go through the bother of having a goal in your life, at least let it be a whopper...
Depending on your interpretation of that last sentence, attaining your goal can thus cost you either:
- a lifetime cubed by 23
- a couple of dollars

If I suddenly go "yes, you were right!  I was wrong! I am a sucker!", does that make me more free, or more a slave to your idea's?
Everything is double-edged.
If you wanna walk the edge, then you gotta cover all sides.

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

I never regret the choice of lifestyle I have...

Not many people will agree to my lifestyle/personal code...
(won't go into detail about what my personal code entails, it is full of contradiction anyway)

But that's because it's my lifestyle and not theirs...

I know that I am not truly free, but I also know that I am not a slave...
I'm not a shepherd, but not a sheep either...
I do not strive to be free, because striving to be free excludes being a slave...
I strive to be everything at once, at the same time, constantly...

It's probably not within the physical laws of the universe, but if you're gonna go through the bother of having a goal in your life, at least let it be a whopper...
Depending on your interpretation of that last sentence, attaining your goal can thus cost you either:
- a lifetime cubed by 23
- a couple of dollars

If I suddenly go "yes, you were right!  I was wrong! I am a sucker!", does that make me more free, or more a slave to your idea's?
Everything is double-edged.
If you wanna walk the edge, then you gotta cover all sides.

I strive to be as many things as I can. Everything? Probably, but I'm not in a whopper mood today, except that one of my goals is to live forever, or die trying.