Tinfoil Headgear

[P3nT4gR4m]

There is you and there is them.
They are not you despite any efforts you may make to bend your mind to thinking you are one of them
You are you.
They are not.
They may tell you what you are, where you are and what is expected of you.
They may convince you they are right, that you are, indeed, one of them.
But you will know differently, whether you are prepared to admit it or not.

Perhaps you will continue to lie to yourself.
You'll pull the wool over your own eyes.
You'll walk, talk, eat, sleep and shit like them.
You'll extol the virtues of being one of them.
It's to be expected, it's the way you're wired as a creature, as a self replicating biological machine.
A number of years so vast as to be utterly incomprehensible to you has resulted in you being born on this earth with the imprinted urge to fit in.
From the moment you took your first breath your programming took over, seeking to imprint on the first two dots with a line underneath that your eyes registered.
"This is your mother", it said, "It will give you everything you you need and tell you everything you need to know"

You were born a mammal.
The mammalian way is that of community.
You had no say in that. A mammal is what you turned out to be.
You learned the rules with a natural propensity to fitting in to the family unit which you found yourself existing in.
It started with "Use the lungs to vibrate the vocal chords to attract attention"
That one was given to you before you're lungs had developed in utero.

You knew how to scream before you were born.
You knew a whole lot more too.
You knew how to pay attention.
You knew how to learn and mimic every little nuance you observed.
You learned to speak and, in doing so, you learned how to think.

But you are not them, no matter how hard you try.
You may have gotten the job and purchased the lifestyle.
You may attend the meetings and read the literature.
You may even have rebelled against them and joined a subset of them who rage against the establishment according to their own established form.
But you aren't them either.

And you know this.
And so do they.
Why am I telling you this?
Simple - I'm not one of them either.

[Jenne]

All very true, Silly.

Once you discover this, though...what more is to be done?  Accept and move on, keep on keepin' on...give up?

[Adios]

Give up Jenne? Heh. Just how does one do that? I have seen the adversity you have gone through and you keep plugging. There's your answer.

[Jenne]

Aw, I wasn't meaning me.  But you are right about me.  I'm too much of a stubborn bitch to stop keepin' on keepin' on.  I was just wondering about philosophical bents, itt. 

[P3nT4gR4m]

Answer is simple, as always, Do what thou wilt.

For best results take 'them' into consideration.

[Jenne]

*nodding*  That's pretty much what I figured.  I do realize, of course, the OP was meant to ask questions, engendering one's OWN response...I just wanted to know how you'd answer it yourself, Silly.  Thanks.

[P3nT4gR4m]

*nodding*  That's pretty much what I figured.  I do realize, of course, the OP was meant to ask questions, engendering one's OWN response...I just wanted to know how you'd answer it yourself, Silly.  Thanks.

How I'd answer for myself may be beyond the remit of the BIP project but, since I like talking about myself I don't mind answering.

I've prolly said this before - I'm in it for the lulz.

Since most of the world I'm presented with stikes me as hilariously funny it's only really difficult for me to see the funny side when I'm under what I consider to be extreme duress.

Because I find this form of laughing my head off the most fulfilling I tend to try and push myself into situations that put pressure on me, the payoff usually coming when I completely lose it and start either pulling my hair out or weeping like a little bitch.

Failing this avenue being immediately available to me I will endeavour to find situations where other people are under extreme duress and laugh at them.

The ones who seem to be dealing with the situation a lot less effectively than myself often prove to be the most hilarious.

Paris Hilton breaking a nail and sliding into a near fatal panic attack is worth about 50 instances of people screaming and panicking as a tidal wave or landslide hurtles towards them in terms of sheer, tear streaming glee.

Other things I like to laugh at include:

Belief systems and the people who adhere to them
People who seem to share the same sense of the ridiculous as myself
Media

[Doktor Loki]

Honestly, I dont know if any Discordians exist that ARENT in it for the lulz.  I think thats really the point, when it comes down to it.
From my experience, the only thing all (ok, most) Discordians have in common is an all-encompassing sense of humor.  EVERYTHING is funny, if you're looking for the joke.

[Skunk Ape]

EVERYTHING is funny, if you're looking for the joke.

I find that hard to believe. I know there's horror to be found everywhere, but humor . . . humor is a rare commodity.  There's really not a lot out there that's funny, more's the pity.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Cheer up little emo - it'll all be over soon

[Skunk Ape]

it'll all be over soon

If the psychotically self-and-everything-else-destructive cave-apes that overrun this planet have anything to say about it, yes, it will.

I mean, you can only laugh at watching the monkeys kill everything for so long before it stops being funny and goes back to just being horrifying.

[P3nT4gR4m]

Sounds like you're in for a miserable life. Good luck with that.

Personally I don't think the monkey/ever increasing club situation ever gets old but then I'm a total fucking basket case by most standards 

[Skunk Ape]

Sounds like you're in for a miserable life. Good luck with that.

Yeah, I tend to be a "glass is half empty, but the world is ending and soon there won't be enough living left to bury the dead, so who cares" kind of guy.

[P3nT4gR4m]

You are cracking me up man 

[Skunk Ape]

Not sure if you mean that in a complimentary or mocking way (or if there's any difference), so I'll just smile and pretend you like me.