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Started by Manta Obscura, November 11, 2008, 07:24:21 PM

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Manta Obscura

From RWHN in "An Essay on Shrapnel":

Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on November 20, 2008, 03:40:43 PM
...and so that is how you got here. 

Did you get all of that?  Did you write it all down?  Are you feeling a little dizzy?  Woozy?  Congested? 

I know, I know, it is a lot to take in.  It is a lot to consider.  But the point isn't to consider it all at once.  It isn't the point to mull over every little facet of your past during every minute of your future.  After all, that isn't exactly living either.  But from this point forward, at least, you know better to know better.  To know yourself better and how your self is being developed even as you read this sentence.  Even now, you are being subjected to the shrapnel of occurrences around you:

BLAAMO!!  That chat you had with your mom just an hour ago. 

INCOMING!!  Your boss telling you there is no money for bonuses OR raises this year.

SHAZAAM!!  Your significant other suggesting the two of you should start seeing other people.

THWACK!!  That speeding ticket you just got for doing 70 in a 55. 

Any one of these bits of life can push you into different paths.  Perhaps the speeding ticket convinced you to ease up on the accelerator.  Or maybe, it ticked you off and you lay down even harder.  Maybe you and your Mom had the tiff of all tiffs and you decided not to go home for the Holidays.  Just think of THOSE family politics.  Perhaps the lack of a raise this year is the impetus for you to find a job that YOU ACTUALLY MIGHT ENJOY!

And then there are the combos.  Maybe it was that the news from the boss was the initiator for your call to your Mom, and it is in that conversation you realize you've been stuck in a rut professionally.  And of course as each of these incidents alter your course of action, you will then be set up for more incoming shrapnel.  But again, it's not that you need to wear a flak jacket for every step you take.  It's just that perhaps with that extra ounce of awareness; you will be able to have more proactive reactions instead of reactive protractions. 

Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From Rat:

Quote from: Ratatosk on June 07, 2007, 05:35:20 PM
The Chaotic Ones Were, The Chaotic Ones Are, The Chaotic Ones Shall Be Again

In the beginning the Chaos was, and the Chaos was with Discordians and the Chaos was Discordians. There appeared great non-prophets and these Children of Eris laid the first foundations for further forays. Here we do not speak of the great Mal-2, nor Omar K Ravenhurst, nor RAW (may they party in Limbo forever), nay for there were many before them that found enlightenment through action and salvation through nonsense. Camus, Jarry, Beckett, Shulz, Kafka, Kierkegaard all came to enlightenment by their own path, their own action, their own experience. Each laid a footpath through the territory of the absurd, each left behind notes and clues about how one could go about creating their own footpath through this little explored territory. Each of them were truly Children of Eris. Yet, this is not to detract from the Great Works of those who came later, Mark Twain, for example, left much for us to consider in his Letters From The Earth, Papers of the Adam Family and other writings, there were those who were inspired to write The Principia Discordia, from which a fountainhead of Chaos ensued. Each of these came about their enlightenment through personal action and their salvation through their own nonsense. They all left behind journals, notes, dissertations, FAQ's, How-To's and DIY infos about their own footpaths created in the unexplored territory. These ancient ones did not become enlightened by reading silly things. They did not find their path by slapping people with the same tired trout. Yet, in this time, we see little in the way of Action and sadly, little in the way of enlightenment. In Action and in Action alone, enlightenment can be found.

A few weeks ago, I determined to see how things were progressing in the Way of Eris since the death of the last PD era Discordian. In some places, Erisians weep for the loss of Bob and I too am sad to see such a silly mind move on... yet, it was not in RAW the man that enlightenment is found. In some places, Erisians seem to have confused freedom with liberalism and they claim Discordian thought, while endorsing one political party or the other, yet it is not in any specific political party that Enlightenment is found. In some places, they study the paths of those who have experienced, thinking that Enlightenment shall fall upon them while in meditation, and they will wait as the young man in Camden Benares Zen Story, for it is not in old houses where enlightenment is found. There is no action and long have I waited for Action. But here, here at PD.com I see something that RAW might have associated with the Cosmic Trigger. Here, there is no acceptance of any previous map as the territory. There appears to be a movement to actually explore the territory while making new maps. In this sacred rite, The Chaotic Ones shall be again, rising to replace those that were and to provide examples for those that are. Those that find the PD as The Answer, or those that believe The Conspiracy, the 23 Enigma, The Law of Fives as real... have missed one of the secret keys of the PD: "This book is a mirror. When a monkey looks in, no Apostle looks out". A mirror can only tell us about ourselves... in and of itself the mirror has no Information, no knowledge, no power, and nothing of Enlightenment. However, a mirror can be useful.

Many here appear to have a grasp on the need for action. They seem to understand that it is not in the relics of past Erisian Delight that Future Discordian Works lie, but in their actions based on current realities. Chaos is active and is based on the actions and reactions around it. The actions and reactions during the 1960's that led to the PD are not the same actions and reactions that exist here, today. In this, I applaud you and find great hope for Discordianism and reason to stick around for a bit... if you don't mind a chaotic rodent chattering on occasion.

Ratatosk, Squirrel of Discord
Muncher of the ChaoAcorn
Chatterer of the Words of Eris
POEE of the Great Googlie Mooglie Cabal

Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From Gentle Luminescence, in the thread "Be an Enabler." This is probably one of the best single pieces I've read on the PD:

Quote from: Gentle Luminescence on November 23, 2008, 10:55:00 PM
Be an enabler.

Have you heard of the 'fundamental attribution error?'
The fundamental attribution error is the tendency for people to assign the cause of another person's actions to personality traits of that person when the cause actually has more to do with the situation.  People act like morons because they are morons, right?  Wrong.  (Well, a lot of the time.)  People act like morons because the situation demands it of them.  People act like 'sheep' or 'cabbages' because that is what is expected of them.  70% of people will administer a lethal shock if a man in a white lab coat tells them they have to.  70% of people are not killers at heart.  When you see a murder, look for the man in the white lab coat.  When you see sheep, look for the shepherd.

Have you heard of the 'Asch Conformity Effect?'
People go with the flow.  Reproducibly.  Predictably.  Sit twenty people in a room.  Ask them an easy question.  An obvious question.  Which is longer, a yardstick or a 12-inch ruler?  Display them up front, just in case anybody doesn't know that a yardstick is three times longer than a 12-inch ruler.  Pay the first nineteen people to answer, "Duh, the ruler is longer."  What does the twentieth say?  The ruler.  Because he's a sheep?  Because the situation demands it.  Nineteen people in civilian clothes turned a glorious Homo Sapiens into a spineless thumbless mouth-breathing maggot.

One man in a white head wrap told nineteen men in civilian clothes they had to bring down the Towers.

Nineteen men did, because the situation demanded it.

A man in a black suit told a nation they must fight evil.  They must tighten their belts, give up privileges which hitherto had been Rights.  They must surrender their sons, their husbands, their daughters, to the endless fields of sand and blood and hate.  They must defend themselves until the no one else is left standing.  Carthago delenda est.

A nation did, because the situation demanded it.

In a distant corner of the Milky Way, there is a nuclear furnace.  Around that furnace is a blue-green-fluffy-white-clouded marble, forever rolling around its track.  It cannot move from that track, until one day when it will sink into its furnace and burn and melt.

One that planet is a species of ape, Homo Sapiens, each wearing the skins of a pitiful monkey because that's all they can see.  Six billion of them, crawling on all fours because they've never seen anyone walk.  They too are on a track.  They go around and around in circles.  Nineteen monkeys tell a monkey in a white head wrap tell nineteen monkeys tells a monkey in a black suit tells six billion monkeys until they all crash into a nuclear furnace that nineteen monkeys told a monkey in a white lab coat to create.  They race along their track, the brake in the reach of every monkey but no monkey is pulling it, because no other monkey is.

Forty thousand feet above the third largest continent in the third rock from a furnace in an otherwise unremarkable galaxy, four monkeys in civilian clothes address thirty seven monkeys in civilian clothes.  We have a bomb, they say.  We are going back to the airport.  They are wrong.

In a bunker in the largest continent, a man sees blinking dots on a computer screen.  The situation tells him that nuclear warheads are flying to his pretty little frozen home.  The situation is wrong.

No, says the man, removing his monkey suit.  I have a throat made for speaking rather than swallowing, and it says No.  I do not listen to machines made my monkeys in white lab coats.  I do not listen to monkeys waving flags or their books of rules. 

Forty thousand feet in the thin blue air, a man is sitting in the back of the plane.  He stands up and takes off his monkey suit; he stands on his own two feet, spine erect, facing forward, because he is a human being, a creature of glory.  I have two thumbs, he says, and with my thumbs I stand against you.

Nineteen monkeys in military clothes in the bunker look up in shock.  But the blinking lights, they say.  But the monkeys with flags and regulations they say.  Damn the machine says the man.  Damn the flag says the man with his voice of glory.  I am the greatest creature ever to walk this dirty little rock.  I am the Pope, I am the Patriarch, I Am Who Am, and I say: No.

Blinded by the vision of glory, thirty six men in civilian clothes take off their suits, because they are standing on consecrated ground in the presence of the holy.  We also have two thumbs, they say.  We also stand against you.

Deafened by the voice of glory, nineteen men in military clothes remove their encumbering suits of monkey fur.  We also say No.  We will not rain apocalypse on our beautiful little rock because of the machines or the flags or the books of rules.

Dressed in the immaculate white lab coat of truth, two men stand across the decades.  Rise, they command.  Nineteen men in military clothes and thirty six men in civilian rise because the situation demands they they stand on their own two feet.  Here, say the two.  Here are lab coats; they are yours, they have always been yours, they are your birthright but you have left them in the mud, you have let them become soiled.  We have restored them for you; wear them in pride, and never forget that you are wearing the coat.  You are the Scientist, the Experimentor, and the situation is yours to control.  The independent variable is yours to manipulate, the world yours to command.  Monkeys are forever your test subjects, and the scientist who takes orders from his specimens has not ever been born nor will he be.  The nineteen men and the thirty six men put on their lab coats now remembered, once forgotten, and they stand up for what they stand for.

The plane crashes in an empty field.

The apocalyptic rain is held in check; the final burning of the world is put off one more day.

There is a very simple explanation to why the world is the way it is: it is run by monkeys.  Six billion monkeys, all of them wearing fur suits instead of their white lab coats because six billion monkeys are wearing fur suits and six billion monkeys can't be wrong can they?

There is a very simple solution to the way the world is: wear your white lab coat, your armor of God.  One man putting on his lab coat convinces nineteen men to put on theirs.  Keep your coat clean; without constant attention it will become soiled and worthless.  You cannot ever enlighten someone; underneath that monkey fur suit is already a human being, the greatest organism to trod upon this rock.  You can only show him how much better life can be without that stuffy how fur suit on.

Always remember: never administer 300 volts to a man taking a test.
Always remember: the yardstick is longer.
Always remember: two and two make four, not five.

Afterwards, someone asked Stanislaw Petrov how he know the machines had erred, that the apocalypse wasn't en route to his frozen home.  I didn't, said the hero.
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From Mangrove in "The Evil of Banality":

Quote from: Mangrove on November 25, 2008, 09:47:25 PM
This is not a pre-written or properly formed rant. It's just some ideas that I'm throwing out in the vain hope that I might offer something productive...

Once upon a time, people used to be scared of witches. In fact, depending on where you are in the world, there are still plenty of people who believe in witches and live in fear of their alleged powers. Folklorist & historian, Ronald Hutton (author of 'Triumph Of The Moon') has spent a great amount of time researching the historical records with regards to the European perception of witches. The overwhelming message from both folklore and trial records is that witches were considered to be:

a) Almost exclusively female
b) Evil
c) Solitary

The notions that there were 'good' or 'white' witches is a modern construct. The idea that they worked in 'covens' stemmed from an account by R.Scott's 'The Discoverie Of Witchcraft' in the 17th century. Interestingly enough, the notion of teams of witches working in concert stuck in the public mind and shaped future perceptions in spite of the fact that the overwhelming majority of sources relating to witches demonstrate that most Europeans held witches to be evil, bitter, women working malevolent spells on their own. (Hutton distinguishes witches from 'cunningfolk' and 'charmers'. The former being largely male artisans who worked spells for money to boost their income and the latter, being one trick ponies who generally offered a very specific service for free eg: charm warts, tame horses etc.)

Cut to the present day and we find that a modern 'witch' protested against her neighbour's Halloween decorations, claiming that they were a hate crime and religiously insensitive.

Once upon a time, people believed in Vampires. They feared that the undead could sneak out of graves and walk among the living to feast upon their blood. I bet if you travelled around enough, you could still find some people who maintain that this is still true. In fact, it took until 1824 for the British government to strike out an old law from the statute books concerning the staking of vampires.

I'm fairly sure that if you examine the folklore & history of Vampires, the picture you will receive is going to be pretty dismal. Corpses, charnel houses, curses, soulessness, you get the idea. It's not for nothing that Peter Cushing made a film career that comprised mostly of killing Christopher Lee in a variety of different ways.

Cut to 2008. I find 'stop vampire hate on the net'. Whut!?

Turns out that the witches that you thought were witches are not witches but survivals of neolithic pagan religions that are entirely unsubstantiated. Turns out that Vampires are actually quite romantic. They don't just rip people's throats open anymore, they go to highschool and have awkward moments with the girls they've got the hots for. They're clean, well groomed and don't even smell a teeny bit like decaying meat.

And oddly enough, these revamped (pun!) images are increasingly accepted into popular discourse. It's ok to dress like Vlad the Impaler, just so long as everyone knows that you don't drink blood, only 'psychic energy' and that it's always with consent. Not like those other bad vampires. Not like those other bad witches.

What is the human need to flirt with a neutered form of darkness? Why let the facts get in the way of a good story?

What intrigues me is what new sub-culture will spring up? What new evil will become the object of our affections? Is there a limit or will the felons of history become redeemed with enough attention and weak justifications? It's ok to be a witch. It's even ok to be a vampire. History was wrong! We totally misread them! Is it ok to be a Grand Inquisitor? Is it ok to be in the SS? How about the Knights of the KKK? Child murderers?

In 100 years from now, in whatever store replaces Hot Topic as the wellspring of pre-packaged rebellion, will we see teens sloping around malls dressed as 'Muhajadeen'? 'No! You've got it all wrong! It's not about holy war, it's about buying this green jacket and wearing my scarf in this manner. DON'T YOU KNOW ANYTHING!?'

:jihaad:






Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From Revenant. Not necessarily "insightful," but funny as hell:

Quote from: Revenant on November 29, 2008, 06:00:50 PM
Behold, for I the Wasteland Profit bring you tidings of the Great Rain God!!! He has seen about the world and time gather his to vomit forth upon the masses. 

First was in New Amsterdam..er York


Then in Britain I once again found traces of his Benevolent Hate.


To the South in Egypt and Rio de Jeneiro



My trip to Lenin's tomb


Japan...



And even in Sweating to the Oldies.



The day of his coming is Soontm, and you will know his arrival when the fit hits the shan.  As it is written, so shall it be.
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From B_M_W in "Reverse Brainwashing: A Guide":

Quote from: B_M_W on May 12, 2006, 05:03:00 AM
Introduction
I'm  not all that great at this stuff, so I'm not posting a piece for the PD06. Instead, I am going to expand upon what I call reverse brainwashing, and was mentioned earlier in the brainstorming stages. Reverse Brainwashing works in nearly the same manner as the garden variety, except its purpose is to free the individual from their 'Iron Bar Prison', and get them to expand their imagination to think for themselves. To wake them up to reality, essentially. Like the opposite, reverse brainwashing rewrites a persons paradigm, and there are several stages to the process.

1. Hook the Sheep
   In this stage we attract those who may be more receptive to waking up at the moment. From earlier discussions, we have found that certain things work well to attract the target population. From polls of other discordians, we have found the target age group, the age group which is most receptive to this process is late teens (16-20). So the modes of attraction are aligned towards these individuals.
   Shiny things tend to catch peoples eye, that is, things that are oddly colored when compared to surroundings. The best way to go is LOUD. Clashing colors, bright graphics, complex, interesting looking graphics, these all get peoples attention. One color font is right out. Non standard fonts are better, but make sure they are easily readable. Make each sentence or thought a different color. Use bright colors, or at least those that contrast highly with the background. Make it ATTRACTIVE to teens these days. You know they spend all day in bland 'prisons', so make it look as different from the prison as possible!
   Place the propaganda in prominent locations. If you are going to disseminate fliers, dress cleanly and properly (depending on the location, maybe suit, maybe street gear), but don't say anything, just hand them out. At this point we are just trying to get them to notice.

2. Reel them in
   So, you've caught their attention. Now, what do you TELL them off the bat? Generally, members agree to leave out as many inside jokes as possible. Leave out 'classic' rich words too, like All Hail Eris, Fn0rd, Greyface, etc. These only get in the way of keeping them interested. In fact, leave out any mention of religion in general. Use newly coined phrases, like ,ÄúThe Discordian Society cordially invites you to join us in a jailbreak...,Äù. Leave out as much classical humor as possible. Use questioning phrases.
   Most of all, intrigue them. Give them just a little meat to work with, using new buzzwords like ,ÄúIron Bar Prison,Äù. Make them want to come to you for more. Make the message short, don't draw it out. These kids have short attention spans, its got to be catchy.
   Finally, give them somewhere to go. Putting www.principiadiscordia.com at the end of the flier is good, or the address to POEE. This is very important, and it will weed out those who are truly interested; they will take the initiative and come.

3. Operation Mindfuck
   In this stage we fuck with the dogma that is stuck in circuit. We weaken the prison with weirdness. This is the realm of the PD06 now in progress, it is the most difficult job of this process, and the most important. It is here that we begin changing the paradigm.
   The document itself has little ability for variability in length. On one hand, the potential discordians have short attention spans, so it should be short enough to adjust for this. On the other hand, there is a minimum length for such documents, because of the time needed for the weakening to occur. This is important: if the PD06 is too short, it will accomplish little or nothing in this stage. This is because a sort of minor hypnosis must occur, which allows the mind to be more easily screwed with.
   The PD06 must be easily accessible; if possible, it should be the first discordian document the potential has ever come across. The less he/she has heard before this point, the better. Put it next to or, if possible, in place of the original at PD.com.
   It should look unassuming. Start out with the same sorts of things from the 'propaganda'. Give a little humor, but make it background. Use lots of buzzphrases. Use repetition. Lull them into an unassuming state, while slowly increasing the weirdness.
   When a critical point is reached, completely shatter their world view. Shock them.  Warning: this can only work if they are first lulled into that semi-hypnotic state. This is the point of turning, where the dogma that has been ingrained is broken. What they knew can't possibly be true anymore. So give them something else to know.

4. Reversing the cycle
   Throughout the PD06, subliminal messages should be placed. These should span around central themes such as freedom, 'jailbreak', thinking for oneself, imagination, waking up, etc. gradually increase the frequency of these and decrease the subliminality, until the critical point is reached. Then, all things should be about these central themes. At this point, we are taking their closed mind and replacing it with an open one. We broke their reality, and now supply a better one. Once you are at this point, you can say nearly anything, and a person will run with it, so be careful! Don't fall in the same traps as the original pd! Yes, some randomness, some humor, but don't make them the most important things. Otherwise you end up with more 'zomg23pinealglandlol' discordians, who are seldom well welcomed in most discordian forums, and their growth as people is also impeded.

5. Welcome the convert
   So a person is converted. What next? They most likely go to find more like them. Thus making active discordian web communities of high importance. The convert should be welcomed and guided. They still have lots to learn. Eventually they should be introduced to the full cannon of discordian literature. But for now, teach the basics. As before, keep the religious aspects low key. There is still the possibility to ostracise. Make them feel welcomed, give them praise and constructive criticism. Encourage them in their interests. In other words, be like good foster parents. They're still kids and have a long way to go!


Conclusion
One by one, we break the sheep from their Iron Bar Prisons and expand their imaginations, make them think for themselves. In turn, they break more from their prisons. Eventually, critical mass is reached. Our key word: Resolve. Evangelize with compassion and determination. And realize that there will be few in the beginning. We are hand picking our successors. They are the future of discordianism. Let us guide our future with intelligence.

                                 Yurito Sakari,

                      The Wannabe Buddhist Monk
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

From Cain in "No Strings Attached Freedom":

Quote from: Cain on December 04, 2008, 06:11:53 PM
Freedom in politics is a curious thing.  When it comes to the topic, I can't help but think of the past 8 years of lunacy, highlighted in particular in the years following 2003.  It has become increasingly clear that "freedom" (with the speech marks) is a very odd project, not least because it is diametrically opposed to what most of us understand freedom to be.  Indeed, as events in Iraq and subsequent US military statements seem to suggest, one can actually be fighting against one's own freedom without even realizing it, or even while thinking one is doing just that.

Snarky comments about the war aside, it is increasingly clear that not only is the brand of freedom which the US Neoconservatives believe in so fervently something of a chimera, but that all political projects may themselves be dangerous to exercise of liberty.  Politics, so long as it is based on any form of ideological idiocy or the naïve multiculturalist relativism that is practiced nowadays is something that cannot be in favour of freedom, that in fact works against it.

This is something I have been grappling with for about the past year or so, to very little avail.  My thinking has traversed elements of all sorts of socially liberal thought, trying to pin down the elements or essence that makes them so much more free, the common bond which unites their purpose and rhetoric, even if it fails in the practice.  This is why I have been notoriously inconsistent in my political opinions of late, and have flirted between elements of all sorts of political opinions from the socialist end of the spectrum to the laissez-faire end with mutualism.  I've been hoping to find a way or method to overcome the inconsistencies, to try and bring together the elements of freedom, untainted by the less attractive elements that came with them.

But the thing is, once you go deep into the ideological structure of all these theories, you see how logically dependent on the basic assumptions of the theory these less attractive elements are.  In many ways, trying to purge these elements ends up in nothing more than throwing out the baby with the bathwater.  So the question for me became not how do we find a political system which brings about the greatest amount of freedom.  That was too limiting, and in some ways impossible to figure out anyway.  How do we measure the right to vote against the freedom to own arms?  Freedom of speech against the presumption of innocence?  And in ranking already existing alternatives, is this not nothing more than settling for, and legitimizing, the current flawed systems, when something better may still be possible.

Instead, I wanted to think about freedom outside of the constrains of politics.  And, with some help and a couple of useful guide maps, I found my way to this strange and unusual ground.  The problem, you see, is this.  Every single political conception of freedom comes with strings attached.  These strings may be obvious, in the guise of an all powerful central committee, or super-empowered secret police service.  But they may be lesser too.  One of the most insidious guises of these strings are those theories which have a certain theory of human nature.  While of course humans are animals and thus in some ways have predictable traits, our social and communicative systems have elevated and hastened our social landscape in such a way that practically any human trait can be followed with a "maybe".  The problem with this is that it assumes that people will act in certain ways conducive to the theory in question.  But when people dissent or act in unexpected or accounted for ways, as they invariably do, then questions of exile, ostracism, "re-education" and witch hunts all come to the fore.  When freedom is conceived of as being a functioning part of the current political order, any excesses can be excused in the name of protecting 'freedom', be it the 'freedom' of contemporary neoliberal democracy, or that of the Peoples Revolution.  Or the Commune.  And so on and so forth.

So long as freedom is framed with certain identities, constrained with certain ideologies, given a grand project, it becomes no longer freedom, but a method of excusing the use of power towards various political ends.

So instead, we must conceive of freedom in a more literal way.  Freedom, instead, is the ability to be other than we are.  To have choices, and to be able to make them, freely.  Despite what you are, what you do or what you believe, freedom means having the potential to do something different in the next moment, if you please.

And when we apprehend freedom in such a personal and obvious manner, it is more liberating than any other feeling.  Obviously, it puts one in opposition to all the above theories, insofar as they all try to constrain identities or create projects for the Betterment of Mankind, but as Camus once said "I revolt, therefore we are."  In acting against all such narratives, in an act of personalized revolt and transgression of their norms, one can find actual freedom.  The only guarantee of freedom is freedom itself.  It sounds tautological, but if you accept the premise, then it must be true.  Any attempts to safeguard freedom end up constituting it as a privilege, to be bestowed or relinquished as its repository sees fit. 

Of course, we must do away with certain myths of the modern era.  Freedom does not mean comfort.  It will not mean happiness, or fairness, or equality.  In fact, freedom, as I describe it here, is nothing but hostile to the existing order (whichever existing order) and thus can never be the foundation of a society.  Yet, at the same time, society brings into being, by forcing people into certain roles, through the creation of identities and projects designed to turn free humans into something else.  Ironically, freedom and society coexist as antagonistic partners.

But freedom means change.  Real change, the possibility of denying yesterday, of denying the power of others, of resistance and of possibility of the pursuit of our chosen dreams and desires.  It cannot promise anything, except the promise of having a chance of finding what you want.  But that has to be better than what we have now.




Note: I know this does not explain the thinking behind it very well.  Hence there will be an exposition, in TFY,S.  Also, I am indebted to Sergei Prozorov and Foucault for reorientating my perspective on this somewhat.
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

Haven't done this in awhile. Here's a great, personal essay from RWHN on Shrapnel:

Quote from: Rev. What's-His-Name? on December 12, 2008, 02:36:58 PM
We all have that person or persons in our lives that had a significant role in how we turned out, or at least, how we are up this point and time.  And I'm talking beyond bloodlines and close personal friends.  I'm talking about people, who, in the totality of our lives, was but a blip on the timeline.  Someone we knew, but for a brief segment of time, and then they vanished into the ether.  Or, we got really lazy and stopped sending them letters or phoning them from time to time.  These were positive, human pieces of Shrapnel, that embedded our flesh with new ideas, new knowledge, new credos, or maybe, just new vigor. 

There are two chaps in my past that stick out for me.  One was this guy named Greg.  He was the guy who hired me at my first Retail gig when I moved into Portland to start Graduate School.  He was something of an odd fellow.  He was deep into mythologies, spiritual energies, and other kinda "new age" thinkings.  At first, I didn't like him much because my first duty on the job was to go get his coffee.  But as the months wore on, we discovered a camaraderie.  We would spend our down times discussing politics, music, feng shui, and the fact that Ottmar Liebert is an egotistical prick.  He was one of the first people I met who was really "real".  He didn't put on pretenses and he didn't put on shows.  He was perfectly willing to delve into chaotic and joyful anarchy.  Like that one time, when the store was full of customers, he declared a ping-pong gun war.  It was a beautiful thing to behold and to be a part of.  We hit customers, and aside from a couple of sticks-in-the-mud, nobody cared.  I really miss that guy.  He moved off to Seattle and vanished.  But he had a huge impact on me just by the way he existed.  To not give a fuck and just be how you want to be. 

There was this other guy named Dave.  This was from a little earlier in my life when I was in High School.  To make money I worked at the local Pizza Hut.  He was the morning guy who did all of the prep work for the day.  We called him Dave the Pizza King.  (yeah, kinda corny)  He was a laugh riot.  Again, he was this cat who would just come in and be Dave.  He would sing loud, mildly inappropriate songs.  He would tell dry, awful jokes.  And the dude made everyone laugh.  Everybody wanted to work with him and I was given the privilege of working with him many mornings.  He was one of the most carefree people I've ever met.  He had a very take-it-as-it-comes way about him that was hard not to be inspired by.  It was an opportunity for me to learn that the best thing I had to offer this world was me.  Not me trying to be what THEY want me to be.  But me being what I want me to be.  Eventually, he left The Hut, and I never heard from him again.  However, his impact has carried through. 

I would be quite a different person, I believe, had I these encounters with these two individuals.  Together, my experience with them probably at best represents 3 years of my 33 year life.  It is a testament of how much this Shrapnel can stick with us.  Perhaps we don't recognize it initially, and its only later upon some random reflection that we realize, "Yeah, that person was huge in my life."  So how about you?  Do you have one, two, or more of these acquaintances that really affected how you've navigated your paths?  What was it about them that helped shape who you are today?  I know, it is kind of sad that we lose touch with these people.  I would shit bricks if Greg or Dave were to knock on my door right now.  We still have the memories and the stories.  And by sharing those stories with others in our daily lives, we can allow their influence to live on, far beyond the days when we were in their presence. 
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

TGRR, "The Art of the Brag":

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2003, 09:53:58 PM
"There is no epilogue, unless you make it,
If you want your freedom, go and take it."
--William "Little Billy" Shakespeare
(had things turned out a little differently)

"And I will give him the morning star"
--St. John "Anything For A Laugh" of Patmos
(Revelation 2:28)

"Go, and never darken my towels again!"
--Groucho Marx
(Animal Crackers)

The establishment spends a great deal of it's time making sure we are sheeple.  Your egos are bruised everyday; from fitness magazines which make you feel (by comparison) like Don Knotts or Fatty Arbuckle, to action movies which make you realize what an indolent slug you are.  You are taught from the cradle that you simply aren't good enough, and you had better be GLAD for the few good things come your way...You obviously don't DESERVE them, so get back in line before somebody notices.

NO MORE!  You can't go through life with a shrunken ego...not as a human being, at least...You CAN, if your greatest ambition in life is to be a food-tube.

You need to look in the mirror and not THINK there are no flaws, you need to KNOW there are no flaws.  You need to act as if you are THE MAN (or WOMAN)!  Act this way, and others will treat you this way (making it easier to ACT this way, etc).

This is NOT arrogance (which would mean you are putting others down to make yourself feel big), but rather SUPREME SELF CONFIDENCE.  If ya don't have it, fake it; it will become real on it's own.

A good tool to help in this regard is "The Brag".  Spew a boast about your various attributes on this forum.  Make shyt up, exaggerate like a Senator...whatever it takes.  Post yourself as a sinner or a saint, it doesn't matter; because here in Discordianism, we're up for ANY PROGRAM!

And let no man say that the Good Reverend Roger will send a person where HE will not go...I will go first:

And his brag:

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on January 26, 2003, 09:56:10 PM
THE BRAG OF THE DISCORDIAN SUBGENIUS

Siddown, Billy, and lemme tell you who I am! 

I am THE MAN!  Where I walk, the grass doesn't grow, OUT OF RESPECT!  When I travel, the elderly and the children cheer, while the unrighteous cringe!  I view the slurs of @ssholes as a BENEDICTION!  Soda machines give free pop when I pass near!  The Gawds themselves cross the road when they see me!  Anything for a frickin' laugh, and the lesser mortals around me are NO EXCEPTION!  Nothing bothers me, I BOTHER IT!  I am the Grand Unified Theory, the walking incarnation of Slack, the terror that walks in the night!  I am feared in all the wrong circles, and I eat my metaphoric dead!  I wipe the establishment off my shoes when I go in the house!  Elvis isn't dead, HE SHINES MY SHOES!  I age backwards!  I spit in the eye of the HSD just for KICKS!  I play frisbee with MANHOLE COVERS!  I kick habits while the nuns are still in them!  I blow my NOSE on the terror of the Gawds!  Robert Redford greens with envy when I pass by!  I gave the Dalhi Lama "third eye blowout"!  I chew barbed wire, and shyt quarters!  Gawd himself put off armageddon because I'm so cool he couldn't bear for the universe to end!  I am that Seven-headed beastie that St John jabbered about, I ain't the Alpha, but I AM the OMEGA! Get outta my way because

(at this point, the Good Reverend blew an o-ring, and conked out on his keyboard.  He will finish his brag at a later time.)

<transmission ends>
Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Manta Obscura

A post from Roger:

Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on December 26, 2008, 04:59:28 PM
Quote from: The Borderline Simpleton on December 26, 2008, 04:53:50 PM
Goddamn you Roger, your logic just pwnt one of the only things I properly enjoy doing.
Is it sad that I enjoy drinking?

Depends on how you look at it, I suppose.

Is it sad to shut your brain off for hours at a time, for the purpose of forgetting that you're surrounded by insane monkeys?  Is it sad to use a substance to BE one of those insane monkeys?  Is it sad that you're trading Slack™ for a buzz?  Is it sad that one day, your Slack™ will be gone, because you left it in the bottom of a long neck, and some fiendish bus-boy has hauled it away?

IS IT SAD TO TRADE IN YOUR STATUS AS A BIPED IN EXCHANGE FOR BEING JUST ANOTHER FOOL ON A STOOL?  IS IT FUCKING SAD TO DROWN YOUR INNER-YETI LIKE AN UNWANTED KITTEN? 

You tell me.


Everything I wish for myself, I wish for you also.

Cramulus

BUMP

because more people should x-post to this thread

Elder Iptuous

WTF happened to Manta?
should we send out a search party?
:?

Jenne

Quote from: Cramulus on April 01, 2009, 08:16:55 PM
BUMP

because more people should x-post to this thread

Agreed.

And Ip, I think IRL stuff got to him.  A datamining of his last few posts might reveal that...that's what I often do when I see someone like Val who hasn't been here for a while and miss them/wonder why they're not here any more.

Elder Iptuous

I looked at his last post and it said something about him being gone for a while, but didn't indicate that he would continue to be gone.
Hope he comes back....

Cain

Because it bears repeating

http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=18624.msg704911#msg704911

Quote"Theory is always for someone and for some purpose."

QuoteNature cannot be seen as it 'really is' or 'really works' except through a value window. Since values enter into every inquiry, the question immediately arises as to what values, and whose values, shall govern. If the findings of studies can vary depending on the values chosen, then the choice of a particular value system tends to empower and enfranchise certain individuals and groups while disempowering and disenfranchising others. Inquiry thereby becomes a political act.

QuoteTheir concern with the phenomenon of 'false consciousness' discloses a belief in the possibility of 'true consciousness', and it is the self-appointed task of critical theorists to reveal the material and social forces that prevent people from achieving their 'real' interests in a world that manipulates their desires and limits their potential. The task of critical inquiry is, by definition, to raise people to a level of 'true' consciousness.