A change of tone

[LMNO]

You mean, "All life is connected as One, and makes me want to cut myself"?

[P3nT4gR4m]

I hate making new topics. I always feel like I'm going to piss someone off by stepping on their carefully arranged threads and end up with a pair of gardening shears jammed in my trachea, and maybe a spade in my face if the person in question was particularly fond of this patch of topics. But sometimes, risks must be taken, as when I find myself with a good idea and no one to help me with it.

I am not fond of the view that the BIP was too dark. Have you seen where you're living? The BIP was a shiny beam of hope through the black cloudy sky of bad shit followed by worse piss. Attempting to make the BIP more friendly is like attempting to make the PD more batshit bonkers -- it's pointlessly beating a horse that should have been ground to dust long ago, the only difference is in degrees. The world isn't all sunshine and lollipops, folks.

Rather than rant, I want to save my pent up rage and sarcasm for a completely new work. This is not a BIP revamp, in fact it's only tangentially related to that particular work. A short discussion with Cain led me to change my tune that it should be completely dark though. Rather, it should start quite nice, with lots of artificial lights, things that seem comfortingly true, then break the bulbs one by one to show the hideous spectre behind the shininess.

In my short discussion with Cain, I came to the conslusion that this would be best served by using the major arcana of the tarot as metaphors, and Silent Hill's dark/light dichotomy for inspiration on how to handle the reversals.

Problem is, I'm not happy. I can't possibly be happy with this fucked up shithole we live in. I can't SEE the lights everyone else does.

So I need one of you hippies to help me write this.

For the interested: You should expect to write either a full page or a half page for each and every one of the Arcana (one or the other for all of them), emphasizing the "good" qualities of each that discordians and other TFYS groups see. Even if you don't agree with those lights, write them as convincingly as possible. Obviously, I will accept only one person for this position depending on who I feel is most fit for it in terms of viewpoint -- that means cynical assholes may go elsewhere and gleefully await the final product.

For the argumentative: I am not doing this to cater to mooks who prefer to frolick with the fairies in the fields even as the excrement begins to hit the ventilator. My goal here is to present something that dispells illusions, encourages pessimism, and MAKES PEOPLE THINK. Luckily, I doubt this will be addressed to many people -- you lot all seem to encourage creativity, regardless of whether or not you agree with the intent.

Interested parties should have some form of IM client so I can discuss the idea with them while we're working on the thing. IRC works too. Not entirely necessary, but it'd be a big, big help.

Aaand I think that's all. Sorry if I came off as a cunt here, I'm channelling the pure distilled wrath of the gods and that comes with side effects.

--Erin D. Gardien

[LMNO]

Ok, I'm thinking something like :

ATU ZERO - THE FOOL. 
Look at that asshole. Doesn't even know where he's going.  Just another deluded fool, wandering over the edge, about to plunge into the abyss.  Just like my parents, you know? I can't belive they voted for McCain.  What fascists!  They wouldn't even get me a second Ipod, so now I have to use the blue one.  I know, right?  I said, "why can't I have a black one?  I need it to be black, to show people I'm an artist!" 
Oh, and the card has a stupid fucking dog on it, too.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Ok, I'm thinking something like :

ATU ZERO - THE FOOL. 
Look at that asshole. Doesn't even know where he's going.  Just another deluded fool, wandering over the edge, about to plunge into the abyss.  Just like my parents, you know? I can't belive they voted for McCain.  What fascists!  They wouldn't even get me a second Ipod, so now I have to use the blue one.  I know, right?  I said, "why can't I have a black one?  I need it to be black, to show people I'm an artist!" 
Oh, and the card has a stupid fucking dog on it, too.

[Cainad (dec.)]

Worst religion ever.

Hater.

I've been taught by the best.

Sure, but that's not my goal. I'll just be straightforward: this isn't going to be Discordian. I don't like Discordianism. I like the sentiment behind it, and I'm doing this with that in mind.

There's something to Discordianism besides its underlying sentiment?

[LMNO]

There are TWENTY-THREE things...

[AFK]

Why can't there be Thirty-Two things? 

[Cainad (dec.)]

There are TWENTY-THREE things...

Then I officially excommunicate myself.

Again.

For the fifth time.

[LMNO]

ZANG!

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

The more of this thread that I read, the more confusing it seems to be.

Hail Eris.

[Jenne]

Ok, I'm thinking something like :

ATU ZERO - THE FOOL. 
Look at that asshole. Doesn't even know where he's going.  Just another deluded fool, wandering over the edge, about to plunge into the abyss.  Just like my parents, you know? I can't belive they voted for McCain.  What fascists!  They wouldn't even get me a second Ipod, so now I have to use the blue one.  I know, right?  I said, "why can't I have a black one?  I need it to be black, to show people I'm an artist!" 
Oh, and the card has a stupid fucking dog on it, too.

This was sort of the direction Khara and I were taking to the "Speaking as a Mother" stuff before my brain blew up and we stopped writing.

I like this idea, ALOT, even if Erin G her/himself seems a bit anti on the Discordian front.

[Cainad (dec.)]

I think it's fair that this project be pretty far removed from the trappings of "traditional" Discordianism (whatever that means), especially if it's using the BIP as its primary inspiration. That alone makes it at least two steps separated from the PD.



Cainad,
Pretty much thinking out loud ITT for greater confusion

[Cait M. R.]

LMNO, it seems like you tried your damnedest to misinterpret what I'm aiming for, and thus turned this into the "let's make Erin look like an emo" thread. I would really appreciate it if you could at least give me a chance to fail at this before subjecting me to drive-by crucifixion. I'm aware that this is not exactly the friendliest forum on the internet, and that I'm relatively new to it, but you could try being helpful or just not participating in the discussion. I haven't insulted you yet (unless my comparison of this completely unfinished work to the BIP is insulting to the work you put into it, in which case just say so), and I actually respect you quite a bit. At least consider letting me try.

Cainad, there's a lot to Discordianism besides the sentiment: the jargon, the in-jokes, the silliness. I don't like those. I DO like the sentiment, I like the idea behind it, those parts are what brought me here. I'm probably the only one here who's like this, but whatever.

Jenne, not "anti-Discordianism" -- that's just sort of ridiculous to think. If I was anti-Discordianism, I'd be trolling my ass off despite lack of proper experience. As I said above: I just don't like the silliness. But thanks for the support, it was sort of nice to see that there, waiting at the end of the thread.

Also: for future reference: I do a godawful job of explaining myself, and I realize that's probably the source of most of the confusion.  Maybe I should just work on it myself and show the finished product rather than waste my time with the explanations.

[Telarus]

Erin lays it down straight ITT.

Oh, and Erin I can't find any contextual meaning in your use of "silliness", examples?

We actually have some forum jargon that helps clarify the issue. We differentiate Sense/Nonsense games from Pinealism (which to me is the propensity to misinterpret the 5th Commandment of the Pentabarf and take everything you hear through your pineal gland as either gospel truth or compulsion to babble).

You'll find Pinealism usually doesn't  go over here well either.

[Cait M. R.]

Both pinealism and actual nonsense turn me off majorly. I like surrealism, but surrealism usually has a theme, even if the theme is non-obvious. It seems like much of the Principia is an exercise in writing colorful bullshit, and I just don't enjoy that sort of stuff. That'd be the silliness I meant.