DISCORDIA: A Brief Critique

[Cramulus]

In response to Cram I have to point out that you can be actively Discordian in your own life, your own home, with your friends, without ever participating in wacky Discordian group projects, so it's probably not a good idea to assume that people aren't actively living Discordia just because they're not posting it on the Internet.

oh certainly - I didn't assume that

being an awesome activitist does not require that you do "discordian" projects, or that you tell anyone about it. Just actively entertaining yourself is enough.

it's like the meme bomb "If this was a movie, would you be a character in it? Or just an extra?" -- activitists are generally the characters.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

In response to Cram I have to point out that you can be actively Discordian in your own life, your own home, with your friends, without ever participating in wacky Discordian group projects, so it's probably not a good idea to assume that people aren't actively living Discordia just because they're not posting it on the Internet.

This is correct motorcycle (ever notice mosbunal motorcycles are single rider things?)

One of the most actively Discordian people I know has never been on this forum and likely will never be on this forum. In fact, having talked to him many times about the cool and interesting stuff here, he shrugs and makes it clear that he thinks this entire idea... posting forums and debating erisology is among the most stupid wastes of time he's ever heard.

Meanwhile, he's pulled off a number of pranks, made all sorts of havoc and discord and nearly gotten arrested 8 times for dancing in parking lots, by himself, after the business that uses the parking lot has closed.

Every time I talk to him, he's in the middle of running somewhere to do something. He doesn't talk about Eris as his goddess, he doesn't say 23PinealFnord even though he's in his 50's and has been a Discordian since the 70's...

I met a lot of Discordians though getting to work with "you know who". Some of them show up here, some show up in other places... but some of the spags that are always doing something for a laugh or a mindfuck... seem to be far too busy doing that stuff, to figure out the whole "Internet thing".

[tyrannosaurus vex]

In response to Cram I have to point out that you can be actively Discordian in your own life, your own home, with your friends, without ever participating in wacky Discordian group projects, so it's probably not a good idea to assume that people aren't actively living Discordia just because they're not posting it on the Internet.

This is correct motorcycle (ever notice mosbunal motorcycles are single rider things?)

One of the most actively Discordian people I know has never been on this forum and likely will never be on this forum. In fact, having talked to him many times about the cool and interesting stuff here, he shrugs and makes it clear that he thinks this entire idea... posting forums and debating erisology is among the most stupid wastes of time he's ever heard.

Meanwhile, he's pulled off a number of pranks, made all sorts of havoc and discord and nearly gotten arrested 8 times for dancing in parking lots, by himself, after the business that uses the parking lot has closed.

Every time I talk to him, he's in the middle of running somewhere to do something. He doesn't talk about Eris as his goddess, he doesn't say 23PinealFnord even though he's in his 50's and has been a Discordian since the 70's...

I met a lot of Discordians though getting to work with "you know who". Some of them show up here, some show up in other places... but some of the spags that are always doing something for a laugh or a mindfuck... seem to be far too busy doing that stuff, to figure out the whole "Internet thing".

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

I won't disparage your Discordian friends or claim that they're not being "properly" Discordian, but I think the time is ripe for those Discordians who think like I do to take this machine to the next level and start collaborating, whether it's on art, expression, media, or pranks. There's a world of opportunity afforded movements like ours by the Internet and newer forms of media. I can't say it's the only Discordian thing to do, because it isn't. But it's a possibility that I would like to explore in more depth, and hopefully others do too.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

In response to Cram I have to point out that you can be actively Discordian in your own life, your own home, with your friends, without ever participating in wacky Discordian group projects, so it's probably not a good idea to assume that people aren't actively living Discordia just because they're not posting it on the Internet.

This is correct motorcycle (ever notice mosbunal motorcycles are single rider things?)

One of the most actively Discordian people I know has never been on this forum and likely will never be on this forum. In fact, having talked to him many times about the cool and interesting stuff here, he shrugs and makes it clear that he thinks this entire idea... posting forums and debating erisology is among the most stupid wastes of time he's ever heard.

Meanwhile, he's pulled off a number of pranks, made all sorts of havoc and discord and nearly gotten arrested 8 times for dancing in parking lots, by himself, after the business that uses the parking lot has closed.

Every time I talk to him, he's in the middle of running somewhere to do something. He doesn't talk about Eris as his goddess, he doesn't say 23PinealFnord even though he's in his 50's and has been a Discordian since the 70's...

I met a lot of Discordians though getting to work with "you know who". Some of them show up here, some show up in other places... but some of the spags that are always doing something for a laugh or a mindfuck... seem to be far too busy doing that stuff, to figure out the whole "Internet thing".

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

I won't disparage your Discordian friends or claim that they're not being "properly" Discordian, but I think the time is ripe for those Discordians who think like I do to take this machine to the next level and start collaborating, whether it's on art, expression, media, or pranks. There's a world of opportunity afforded movements like ours by the Internet and newer forms of media. I can't say it's the only Discordian thing to do, because it isn't. But it's a possibility that I would like to explore in more depth, and hopefully others do too.

Oh don't get me wrong, I have been on the 'net since... well since before the WWW existed. I absolutely think it is the future of communication, I thought that when I was some poor conservative Christian redneck kid living on the backside of a hill in Ohio... a bazillion miles away from knowledge and information... unless it was knowledge and information about God, Horses, Cows or Pottery.

I think the Discordians that shun the net are idiots, at least in that regard.

My only point in mentioning them is that we often forget that 'The Discordian Society' isn't just the spags here, or here and at 23ae or MySpace etc.

I've also noticed an almost elitist view among a lot of the really old school Discordians and SubG's that I've run into. Some of them dismiss Discordians from online, because they compare "insert prank that they and their 3 friends pulled" with "insert *GASM" and they say we're lazy, got off on something simple and easy and spent far too much time patting ourselves on the back, rather than actually "getting our asses off our keyboards".

Sometimes, I think that argument would have sounded like Scribes getting on Gutenberg... "We wrote five different manuscripts today and illustrated them with beautiful art... while you dumb spags just printed off 100 pages that all said the same damn thing... and there was not pretty pictures on the side."



RAW not only recognized the importance of the net, but spent his final years coming up with ways to promote new ideas via the net.

Hell, he even did Tarot Readings via eBay.

[Cain]

It would be nice if they at least contributed to online collections of mindfucks and pranks, to share their ideas and methods with other audiences (and in return get feedback on them and have new ideas come their way as well).  When I'm feeling uninspired, I trawl the Urban Prankster Collective for ideas, or Joey Skagg's Prank.com, for example.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

Sure, but not everyone is online, and of those who are only a relatively small percentage are into forums. You can reach a relative few by posting on this forum, but everybody else is also out there doin' it right in their own way.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

It really bothers me when people try to eliminate the "discord" part of "Discordian". Not that it's applicable to this thread necessarily, but, you know, Parable of Steve and all that.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

It would be nice if they at least contributed to online collections of mindfucks and pranks, to share their ideas and methods with other audiences (and in return get feedback on them and have new ideas come their way as well).  When I'm feeling uninspired, I trawl the Urban Prankster Collective for ideas, or Joey Skagg's Prank.com, for example.

Yeah, I know... though it seems like they don't plan pranks in the Skaggs sense... they seem more like incidental pranksters. If they get inspired, they act. Often rashly. One grocery store kicked Sjaantze's dad out, because he was dancing to the Muzak in the aisles... so he and four friends returned (he worse glasses and a mustache) and proceeded to hold bowling tournaments in the aisles, complete with promotional signs. They used various stuff from the shelves as pins and balls.

As they were being escorted out, Dave removed the glasses and fake mustache and said to the manager "Bet, you'd have preferred me dancing, while I shopped, huh?"

In general, that's the sort of thing they do. I think its one of the contributing factors to my view that guys like Skaggs seem to be taking themselves and their pranks way too seriously.

On the other hand, I think they'd be a great inspirational resource... if they'd get over their egotistical opinion of 'kids these days'.

Yet further... I doubt that any single one of them would ever get past 50 posts. LOL  

They've read random entries from the Cthulhu Encyclopedia into my voice mail for no reason whatsoever... what sort of things they would type on an internet forum... I have no idea.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

Sure, but not everyone is online, and of those who are only a relatively small percentage are into forums. You can reach a relative few by posting on this forum, but everybody else is also out there doin' it right in their own way.

Right... but I wasn't talking about "forums" specifically. I mean the Internet in general.

Here's an exercise: For our next trick, let's make it so that nobody can spend more than five days on the Internet without hearing something about Discordianism from somewhere.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

Sure, but not everyone is online, and of those who are only a relatively small percentage are into forums. You can reach a relative few by posting on this forum, but everybody else is also out there doin' it right in their own way.

Right... but I wasn't talking about "forums" specifically. I mean the Internet in general.

Here's an exercise: For our next trick, let's make it so that nobody can spend more than five days on the Internet without hearing something about Discordianism from somewhere.

Sure, but not everyone is online

Good luck saturating the Internet with Discordian references though... it may be bigger than you think... 

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

May I ask what the perceived benefit is to popularizing Discordianism?

I mean, if that's what it's all about, Pinecone just had the idea that if we each posted a bunch of Youtube videos, we'd probably hit a pretty decent slice of the Internet population.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

May I ask what the perceived benefit is to popularizing Discordianism?

I mean, if that's what it's all about, Pinecone just had the idea that if we each posted a bunch of Youtube videos, we'd probably hit a pretty decent slice of the Internet population.

Type Discordia into Youtube...

[OPTIMUS PINECONE]

That's great, but again, the "Internet Thing" is hardly just a passing fad anymore. It is the new medium of human communication. It is rapidly supplanting books and newspapers as most people's source of raw information. And beyond all that, it is a two-way communication medium that allows not only for endless mental masturbation sessions among people but for coordination and planning.

Sure, but not everyone is online, and of those who are only a relatively small percentage are into forums. You can reach a relative few by posting on this forum, but everybody else is also out there doin' it right in their own way.

Right... but I wasn't talking about "forums" specifically. I mean the Internet in general.

Here's an exercise: For our next trick, let's make it so that nobody can spend more than five days on the Internet without hearing something about Discordianism from somewhere.

Sure, but not everyone is online

Good luck saturating the Internet with Discordian references though... it may be bigger than you think... 

     For the record VEX, I thought this
Here's an exercise: For our next trick, let's make it so that nobody can spend more than five days on the Internet without hearing something about Discordianism from somewhere.

     was a really good example, of what I perceived to be more or less the point of your O.P. If we research hypothetically, the top five most played youtube clips, submitted (somehow) labeled "discordian" versions (whatever that means) thus, inevitably resulting in people stumbling across the 'phenomena' of "discordian-ism", I thought this was (just one) example of what you were getting at.

     WARNING: THIS PRODUCT NOT MEANT TO BE CONSUMED.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

the advantage in popularizing discordianism is along these lines...

- more people are aware of discordianism,
- more people try to find out more,
- more people want in on the fun,
- more people are available for operations, and
- the operations themselves have a higher chance for success and have a higher visibility.

i guess i'm not being very clear with my direction, and that's probably because i haven't really thought it out very well myself. i'll probably have to come up with another rant to answer the "Why?"

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

http://www.youtube.com/user/ErisDiscordiana