DISCORDIA: A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

[tyrannosaurus vex]

It is often said that laughter is the best medicine. Indeed, during times of epic fail such as the one we are currently about to embark on, scarcely anything besides The Giggles provides a reason to keep breathing. As empires collapse, liberties vanish, and cruel new realities arise, the ensuing chaos can reach levels of absurdity and discomfort that are hard for even the most experienced and lulz-hardened soul to weather.

These periods of civil uncertainty or unrest, when the cycle of human events rolls through the darker and more unsightly neighborhoods of history, are by necessity the most fertile breeding ground for Discordianism. Obviously, it is easier for more people to be disgruntled and disgusted by the Way Things Are, when things are actually bad. But more than that, a descent into collective madness is like a gigantic pot of soup, in that it boils cabbages.

In both good times and bad times, Discordians are irreverent, subversive, and unsettled. But aside from a few exceptional cases, it is really only during the bad times that these traits find themselves in agreement. A society experiencing a widespread period of mourning is one which is looking wildly for distraction and consolation: it is only the introspective, depressed and dimly-lit society which can be illuminated.

If people are laughing anyway, telling them a joke will not make much of an impression. If people are crying, it will break the monotony of gloom and distress.

Discordianism, of course, is more than a well-timed joke. Sometimes it is a badly-timed joke, and sometimes it isn't funny at all. It is many things; it is almost impossible to define, in fact, but I would say that the idea of Discordianism is first a rejection of the status quo, but more directly, it is a concerted, conscious, and successful effort to remain disconnected from the status quo.

The initial disconnection from the status quo is far more achievable when it takes the form of giving people something to look forward to, rather than giving them reason to doubt some already satisfying bliss.

Question Everything. When you are down, question the part of your brain that insists that things cannot get better. That is the duty of a fully functioning Discordian Society operating in a society full of people deranged by worry and stressed to their limits by attempting to meet impossible standards that make no sense in the first place.

It was never the intention of Discordianism to make no sense, but rather to show how the Status Quo is crazy; how it is the daily grind that makes no sense; and how much easier it is to do that when the insanity of the Status Quo is tangibly resulting in the misery of billions.

[Cramulus]

that was surprisingly optimistic?
Are you going to submit that to Payne's issue of Intermittens? I think it would be a good fit.

[Payne]

Yeah, This is really rather good.

More thoughts after I think on it a bit.

[hooplala]

It was never the intention of Discordianism to make no sense, but rather to show how the Status Quo is crazy; how it is the daily grind that makes no sense; and how much easier it is to do that when the insanity of the Status Quo is tangibly resulting in the misery of billions.

THIS

Vex, you've done it again, you crazy motherfucker.

[Elder Iptuous]

 

[Cainad (dec.)]

*inspects rant with jeweler's loupe*

Yup, 100% win. Very nice.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

Nicely done Vex!

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

mittens and win.

[Triple Zero]

well-written, i enjoyed it!

this made me smirk right away: "Indeed, during times of epic fail such as the one we are currently about to embark on"