Discordianism, Hill, Thornley et al part of socio-political documentary 2021

[Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.)]

Well, fuck...

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtPP_-rkrT3CAPe8OmDnlZBDvaQ7baH7B 

[LMNO]

Is there a tl;dr?  I'm not sitting through 7 hours of YouTube documentary.

[Cramulus]

This is an Adam Curtis documentary. In this series, he's asking his favorite questions - how did things get so complex? why do our [conspiracy] theories about how things work grow so much more complex than the reality?

Curtis highlights a few characters whose personal story helps explain "how things got like this". One of them is Kerry Thornley. Kerry has a few segments in the first episode, and then shows up throughout the rest of it. (though not in every episode) Curtis outlines the early Discordian movement, and how RAW and Greg/Kerry helped create the modern Illuminati conspiracy -- as well as Kerry's original intent.

Curtis frames it in an interesting way - that Kerry Thornley HATED conspiracy theory. He thought it was one of the ways the People in Power get us barking at cars and shadows instead of at them. Originally, they thought that the Illuminati conspiracy was so big and ridiculous that it would make all other conspiracy theory seem absurd and ridiculous. Like, by pushing things to the breaking point, they may have created a window for some sanity. If you can go "Yeah that's probably not true", then maybe you can apply that reasoning elsewhere.

Then, Nixon happened. Things got weirder. By the mid 70s, the idea of a secret cabal influencing the entire world behind the scenes ... was plausbile. Even to Kerry.



If you liked Hypernormalization or All Watched Over By Machines of Loving Grace (my favorite, especially for its succinct anti-ayn rand vibe), you will probably like this too.

[Cramulus]

BTW, if you're just in it for Thornley, the Adam Curtis series uses clips from this 1992 interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvBs3qE0-Ik


in the curtis doc, the first chunk of thornley stuff begins around 20 minutes deep into the first episode

[LMNO]

Thanks for the recap, Cram!

[Rev. St. Syn, KSC (Ret.)]

 Appreciate that Cram