Postergasm Brainstorm

[Cramulus]

Playing with the idea of making some new posters. For those of you that don't know, POSTERGASM is a discordian project where you put crazy / surreal / funny / mind expanding printouts into public spaces. The idea is to jackknife right into somebody's stream of consciousness and plant a seed that might grow into a full thought.

Here's the central question --

In the Year of Our Lady of Discord 3184 (that's this year, ya spag), what message does the average pedestrian need to hear?


for now, let's focus on the core message... if we can come up with a few good kernels, we can develop corresponding memes which, when dropped into warm water, will gradually expand into a sponge shaped like a dinosaur.

[Cramulus]

One thought that comes to mind is the environmental crisis.

I saw a meme the other day which put it something like "We only have 130 months to stage a complete revolution. LIBERALS: ok, I guess I shouldn't use shampoo with palm oil"

There's another piece of data floating around which talks about how like 80% of waste is industrial, merely putting cans into a recycling bin and not using dispoasable straws really doesn't fucking matter.

Both of these speak to me -- I grew up with the Environmental Crisis looming on the horizon, and that framing (as something at arms length) actually has a soporific effect. It's an existential crisis that we've gotten used to. Because it's handled by LOL POLITICS, it has this kind of "business as usual" theatrical tone which ensures that nothing fucking happens.

So I think a helpful meme would be one that (a) puts the present moment in a context of being the last minute, and (b) aims our hatchets at the root of the tree, instead of the branches - being industrial (instead of municipal) waste.


Not that I think it'll do any good in the long run or anything, but it's a start

[Cramulus]

The Gurdjieffian technique called "Self Remembering" is the most useful and mind-expanding practice I've discovered in years. In short form, it involves observing the self, while also being aware of the part of your mind doing the observation. I wish I could give people this gift.


Another writer (Van Vogt) blazed a path to self-remembering, called the "cortical-thalamic pause":

"Van Vogt refers to this system as the cortical-thalamic pause. Instead of reacting immediately and often blindly to a situation, Null-A teaches us to stop and consider our total reaction and options before responding. This requires training for a person to use successfully, particularly on an automatic level. General Semantics, then, offers a method for improving our ability to reason, evaluate, communicate, etc. It involves the recognition and understanding of our thoughts, feelings, bias, judgments, perceptions, assumptions and inferences. It is definitely beneficial for our best interests and survival."


Gurdjieff's practice teases consciousness out of automatism by shining the light of awareness on unconscious factors acting upon us. Evokes Carl Jung's idea that the therapeutic process is about making the unconscious conscious. A standard method for this in the Fourth Way tradition is to raise awareness of the body ("You are now breathing manually"), and the context it exists in. When I Self Remember, I try to see myself through the lens of a distant movie camera. This moment, this exact instant where I'm having this thought, is not going to be cut from the picture, left on the editing room floor. This is the scene. This is the moment. This is isn't the dress rehersal, you only get one life, and this is part of it.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

The bubble I've been living in is full of people who need the opposite of a mindfuck right now.

[LMNO]

Heh.  I was just about to suggest Cram reach out to you about this, QGP, and link him to these:

https://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,38386.0.html
https://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php/topic,38382.0.html

[Faust]

In these trying weird times it is important to remember what is important to us:
SLACK OFF!

Compassion and empathy are the new black

The revolution will not appear in your news feed.

[LMNO]

The revolution will not appear in your news feed.

[Doktor Howl]

The bubble I've been living in is full of people who need the opposite of a mindfuck right now.

This.  So:


"Don't Panic, help is on the way."


"The wolves you fear are actually just loud chihuahuas."


"Remember, THEY are afraid of US, too."


"We will survive all of this."

[Doktor Howl]

One thought that comes to mind is the environmental crisis.

I saw a meme the other day which put it something like "We only have 130 months to stage a complete revolution. LIBERALS: ok, I guess I shouldn't use shampoo with palm oil"

It seems to me that the tone of this says "Alex Jones."

I know it's trendy for the left to other the shit out of "liberals", but when most people see that, they assume it's Rush Limbaugh talking.

[Doktor Howl]

THIS IS ALL NORMAL, BILLY.

<insert non-threatening pic of something that is obviously NOT normal>

[Doktor Howl]

"I GOT YOU, BOO"

"The People have your back."

"It's NOT just you."

"Why are you scared when you should be angry?"

"Don't take any guff from the bastards."

"What kind of world do you want?"

[Cramulus]

The revolution will not appear in your news feed.

Fav line of the thread so far

I think the important layer is that FB has really become one of the places people go to become informed about the world - but becoming genuinely informed is impossible on FB, there is too much of a signal:noise problem, and the newsfeed algorithm is biased. And all that Jaron Lanier stuff about how it's basically stealing your spare CPU cycles and rewiring your brain.

THIS IS ALL NORMAL, BILLY.

<insert non-threatening pic of something that is obviously NOT normal>

Like this one, too

One thought that comes to mind is the environmental crisis.

I saw a meme the other day which put it something like "We only have 130 months to stage a complete revolution. LIBERALS: ok, I guess I shouldn't use shampoo with palm oil"

It seems to me that the tone of this says "Alex Jones."

I know it's trendy for the left to other the shit out of "liberals", but when most people see that, they assume it's Rush Limbaugh talking.

That's a good point.

I do feel like we're reaching a point where, even if we were to surf some impossibly blue wave, we'd still be completely fucked... The tension surrounding this issue has become "buisness as usual" even as the existential threat has grown more real.

Honestly, I don't think anything will happen until the public receives a terrible "shock", like some coastal city being evacuated permanently, or food supply chains breaking down.

And I think there are probably less than 1000 people in the world who are really "responsible" for how it's going on right now - that is, they are the ones whose hands are actually on the wheel and could execute systemic changes. So in that context, it's not like we plebs can do anything other than get angry and loud. IDK if I can say what shock regular pedestrians "need" to get to that point where they make the environment a central issue for them. It all makes me feel pretty helpless.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

[Doktor Howl]

Honestly, I don't think anything will happen until the public receives a terrible "shock", like some coastal city being evacuated permanently, or food supply chains breaking down.

A small city in California burned down last week.  52,000 people are living in refugee facilities.  Nobody cares, because the "rugged individualist" indoctrination essentially says "you're on your own when things go wrong." 

I think we should maybe try to do something about that, if we have any pretentions about being a force for change.

And I think there are probably less than 1000 people in the world who are really "responsible" for how it's going on right now - that is, they are the ones whose hands are actually on the wheel and could execute systemic changes. So in that context, it's not like we plebs can do anything other than get angry and loud. IDK if I can say what shock regular pedestrians "need" to get to that point where they make the environment a central issue for them. It all makes me feel pretty helpless.

This narrowing of political power is following the same pattern as the last century, more or less exactly on schedule.

But we do have one other option, which is getting angry and loud AND Jacobin.  Which is something that maybe those 1000 people need to be reminded is clearly an option.

[hooplala]

Yes. Howl nailed it.

Let's try to put an end to the rugged individual meme.