Of Tolerance and Subtelty

[Cramulus]

Here are my thoughts this morning about idea thresholds, subtelty, and subversion



1 ---------------------- 10
least                        most
receptive                  receptive
to new ideas            to new ideas
(neophobes)              (neophiles)

Everyone falls somewhere on this scale, and it varies over the course of the day. At one end we have those incredibly open-minded people who are interested in everything. In some ways they're the easiest to influence because they have a high threshold. At the other end of the scale we have the closed mindstate, which is dismissive of mental intrusions and breaches.

Pamphlets, memes, ideas, the virii we spread. When you encounter an ideological breach, the likelihood that you let it past your threshold and think about it is a function of your tolerance, and the conductibility of that idea. Big breaches have difficulty making it past threshold. Ideas that are subtle and sexy easily slip past one's defenses. That's memetics.

Consider, once again, the guy on the subway. He's on his way to Point B, listening to his iMeme, and probably has the world tuned out. When he sits down, there's a pamphlet on his seat. Small type, no pictures, sort of preachy. If he even picked it up, he pretty much ignored it. You would too. And it's too bad, because the pamphlet is fucking brilliant.

Remember Roger's sermon about how the subversive need a good cover? It's true, you can't influence people if you look like a freak to them. And when shit goes down, the freaks will be the first with their backs against the wall. Ideas work the same way. Big flashy revolutionary ideas are easily dismissed. The subtle, the sexy, they make it through threshold.

We've talked about how we shouldn't dilute our message too much for the grays. For sure, some people just can't be saved. And who would want to save them anyway? Personally, I think the neophiles already are saved, to some extent. It's a lot easier to get them fired up because they LIKE new ideas and they LIKE to evolve. They're not afraid of change or thought. They need a jostling now and then, but they're generally moving within the crowd, not with the crowd.

This morning I was putting up 5160-size stickers that I made out of the meme bomb thread. I had put up about a dozen of them in the train station. I doubled back at some point and noticed that a sticker I had put up 2 minutes ago was gone. Later on, a guy approached me right before I got on the bus, handed me a sticker I had just put up on the bus stop, and said something like "put these in your house or something, but don't clutter up public spaces with them". I just sort of nodded and tuned him out, but I thought about it for a while.

In fact, I'm sort of pleased by his reaction. Those stickers (not the messages on them, but the perception of graffiti) woke him up and caused him to interact with his environment. Numerous other people saw me putting them up and just ignored them. This guy seemed to care about something. This guy took a risk and talked to me. He wasn't just a passive observer. And bravo to that. Even though the specific message was lost, the stickers did sort of have their intended effect.

So...

Maybe the "wake the fuck up" message shouldn't be so literal. The Principia disguises itself as a joke, and that's how it gets past people's defenses. I'm not suggesting that we rewrite and retune our entire efforts, but that we should keep this vibe in mind.

One of my favorite stickers in the whole set is SillyCybin's meme "Congradulations, you've just found Clue #3! The man in the green jacket will tell you what to do next." If I found that sticker in public I'd be tickled - am I in the middle of some cool game? Are there other clues I should be looking for? It rewards people for being aware. It suggests something's going on which might be invisible to the casual observer.

Maybe the best way to get people to think hard about the Black Iron Prison pamphlet is to destroy it. Like a flyer with the URL of the BIP wiki and a suggestion to "STOP THIS BULLSHIT NOW". Write rants against it. Tear it apart. In trying to figure out what you're talking about, people will have to absorb the material. We've snuck in the message without trying directly to sell it to them.

This what Discordians against Discordia is all about. The Concordia movement appeals to Christians and actually invites them to learn more about our heathen cult. It's exactly the cover our subversion needs.

Or maybe all this just means that our memes should be disguised as regular things. Make our flyers look like regular advertisements. Put sexy swimsuit models on them. Subtelty through commercialization.

It might be easier to get under the skin if we try not to pierce it.

[LMNO]

Some interesting ideas here.

Perhaps if I may make a broader comment.

Things get by people's defenses when those things resonate with the individual. 

That is, a punk will be open to things that look punk, and intellectual will be open to thing sthat are intellectual, etc.

This is why I thought changing the cover of the BiP to the "23" movie thing Syn did was so good.  It adapts to the audience.

Also, context helps as well.  I see more people reading the pamphlets I leave around when I'm playing a show* than when I just leave them lying around on the subway.

I agree you can't just shove stuff in someone's face.  You need to adapt to the individual.  Luckily, most clothing comes with multple pockets.










*Fur Purse tonight, 9:30 pm, at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA.

[Ambassador KAOS]

"Stop this bullshit now" stamped with approval.

Most people milling about with an open mind will look at a pamphlet and let it affect them for what it's worth.  I think hitting people who really need it most by appealing to their own bullshit is a great introductory method.

Keep in mind, Hitting people with reverse psychology is a great, but like all others, the magic of the trick is lost if you do it more than once.

As for naked girls and flashy stuff, yes.

Some people really need that and want it. 

Play to your audience.

[LMNO]

If all you're gonna say is, "I agree with this," please don't say anything at all.

[AFK]

I think it is certainly true that the messages need to be adapted to different audiences.  But of course, that's easiest when you know your audience.  In cases where the audience is unknown it seems we need to develop a base level product that has the chance to appeal to Average Citizen.  whateverthefuck that is.  I think it's been pointed out to us on several occassions that the original pamphlet, perhaps, does not have that potential because of its bleakness, darkness, throat-throttle-ness, etc. 

So what we really need is for one of us to become insanely rich, hire a marketing firm, and then go apeshit with this stuff. 

In the meantime, grassroots ftw.  I mentioned this on another board but I'm thinking, (I emphasize thinking) about developing something from a parenting angle.  Because I truly believe that if you can instill some of these values earlier, rather than later, a kid has a better chance at not becoming Average Citizen.  But again, this is a plan in my head, which is currently roommates with several other ideas that have never made it to paper or bandwidth. 

[LMNO]

Suggestion:  Make a note of the various places/environments we tend to leave pamphlets in.  Create an idea of what the perfect booklet cover would be.  Ask some of the visually creative to develop a variety of covers that could easily be switched out w/o too much hassle for the rest of the pamphlet.  That way, you can have a choice of what to leave, where.

I will also develop a GPS pamphlet, for those of you infiltrating New-Age areas.

[AFK]

Ha!  I've actually got a psychic that shares my office building.  I could leave a few on her doorstep. 

[Cramulus]

I like the idea of tailoring the pamphlet graphics to the area in which we'll be dropping them.

Here's an idea--

pepper a target location with propaganda over time. As it goes on, it leads up to the BIP.


For example: at the bus stop

Week 1: stickers with sexy / funny images. A key word "BIP", which is left unexplained.

Week 2: a funny pamphlet which deals with some of Discord's themes. Maybe a funny story about someone who makes up their own rules. a sexy model on the front cover with the word bubble "I ESCAPED THE BLACK IRON PRISON"

Week 3: the actual BIP pamphlet

You need to see a commercial like six or seven times before it registers. People out in public, particularly in transit, have the same type of wandering, defocused attention as people watching commercials.

We've got to warm the waters a bit before we push them in - after six or seven times seeing the word BIP or the phrase Black Iron Prison, they'll start to wonder what it is. Surrounding it with mystery and other such symbolism will heighten its mystique. (remember the "what is the matrix?" ad campaign?) Then when they read the pamphlet, they're reading out of curiosity, not boredom.

[LMNO]

You'll need a place with fairly consistent subjects.  That is, a bus stop isn't so good, even at rush hour, because it will almost certainly be completely different people each time.

I was thinking something like "23 things every commuter should know", for a bus stop.

"5 ways to prepare oatmeal" in a supermarket.

etc etc.

[Cramulus]

oh fucking great call



and if you leave material at a bus stop at the same time every week, you'll hit the same people - but that's a pretty narrow target audience. (like 20 people at best?)

[AFK]

How about "23 Things to Amuse You While You Wait" for the DMV.  

[LMNO]

Now you're talking.

[The Littlest Ubermensch]

To go with Cramulus's idea of the concordia movement site as PR, what if we just posted giant black lettering on a white background posters saying things like "The Discordian Movement Will Kill Your Children" or "Hitler: Discordian?" to make people interested (or at least attract a few nutjobs, which is always helpful.)

[Cramulus]

commence 8 x 11






and in B&W for printer friendlyness

[Jenne]

Ha!  This is so going to be left in every library/public pool/park we're at this summer!