Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
Is it just because he was a West Coast eccentric and the whole shebang started up out there?
Within the past couple of years I had discovered the life of "Lord" Timothy Dexter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter_%28businessman%29). I can't help but think he did more to upset the establishment of the day by being successful through sheer stupid luck.
Quote from: PopeTom on March 21, 2010, 11:20:31 PM
Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
Divine maniac.
Our First Emperor could have prevented the Civilwar... well that is if the army actually arrested the president
That fellow has a pretty excellent wiki writeup.
thanks for pointing him out. now i want to read his book....
Wow, I can't believe people are asking such questions here.
Go burn yourself at the stake, heathen, til you learn your lesson as to why you should not question ancient discordian wisdom.
So it is written, so shall it be, AND DONT ASK WHY OR YOU WON'T GET ANY SUPPER BEFORE BED
Stupid luck, or AWESOME LUCK?
Quote from: Doktor Howl on March 22, 2010, 01:10:53 AM
Quote from: PopeTom on March 21, 2010, 11:20:31 PM
Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
Divine maniac.
This.
Dexter was successful through weird success...
Norton was 'successful' (for varying definitions of the term) because he imposed his reality upon everyone else and got them to play along.
As far as I'm concerned, they're both great Discordian archetypes ;-)
Neither of them would last five minutes around here - dumb hippies . . .
Quote from: Cain on March 22, 2010, 04:02:59 PM
Stupid luck, or AWESOME LUCK?
The determination of if luck is 'stupid' or 'awesome' probably depends on what side of the luck you are on.
For Lord Dexter it was awesome luck. For those society members with old money it was stupid luck.
I happen to really like the selling coal to Newcastle story.
Quote from: Lysergic on March 22, 2010, 03:28:22 PM
Wow, I can't believe people are asking such questions here.
Go burn yourself at the stake, heathen, til you learn your lesson as to why you should not question ancient discordian wisdom.
So it is written, so shall it be, AND DONT ASK WHY OR YOU WON'T GET ANY SUPPER BEFORE BED
Person, I'm only one guy.
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2010, 07:49:42 PM
Neither of them would last five minutes around here - dumb hippies . . .
Norton wouldn't bother with this place
for one thing, there was no such thing as computers when he was alive.
Quote from: Calamity Nigel on March 22, 2010, 10:33:49 PM
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2010, 07:49:42 PM
Neither of them would last five minutes around here - dumb hippies . . .
Norton wouldn't bother with this place
for one thing, there was no such thing as computers when he was alive.
Also, he wouldn't have had the money to get online.
Although maybe he could have borrowed Mark Twain's net connection to post a few Proclamations.
"AS EMPEROR OF THESE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA I ORDER YOU TO STFU, POSTHASTE!"
\
(http://www.knauer.org/mike/discordia/images/norton.jpg)
I've always wondered what it would be like to actually meet the person with the best luck in the world. And now I know. Also, I hereby nominate Lord Dexter for Sainthood. All in agreement, say aye.
Awesome man! The living embodiment of "Never attribute to intelligence that which can be adequately explained by sheer dumb luck."
Well, for a start, he was English, (and as far as good starting points, for Emperors, England is a winner)
He was mad as a box of frogs, but in a good way. He knew stuff too, like right from wrong, and knew how to get his point across.And he didn't mind standing up, and pointing out any bullshit that needed pointing out, in a day when doing so didn't exactly make you popular. (Did it ever?)
Geographical fortuitousness. Well, he wouldn't have been quite so well received up the coast a ways, in Los Angeles for instance. And his name was the same as Fonzy's motorcycle. (British too) :fnord:
Quote from: Calamity Nigel on March 22, 2010, 10:33:49 PM
Quote from: MMIX on March 22, 2010, 07:49:42 PM
Neither of them would last five minutes around here - dumb hippies . . .
Norton wouldn't bother with this place
for one thing, there was no such thing as computers when he was alive.
The emperor of the US has much more important things to do that dick around on an internet forum.
Quote from: Ratatosk on March 22, 2010, 06:32:14 PM
Dexter was successful through weird success...
Norton was 'successful' (for varying definitions of the term) because he imposed his reality upon everyone else and got them to play along.
As far as I'm concerned, they're both great Discordian archetypes ;-)
This answer makes sense to me
Quote from: Number_6 on April 11, 2010, 05:18:02 PM
Quote from: Ratatosk on March 22, 2010, 06:32:14 PM
Dexter was successful through weird success...
Norton was 'successful' (for varying definitions of the term) because he imposed his reality upon everyone else and got them to play along.
As far as I'm concerned, they're both great Discordian archetypes ;-)
This answer makes sense to me
Is that supposed to validate the veracity of this answer in some way? Because it doesn't. :fap:
(now I just want to go and think about it some more, before I commit myself)
Quote from: PopeTom on March 21, 2010, 11:20:31 PM
Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
Is it just because he was a West Coast eccentric and the whole shebang started up out there?
I'd say it was because he went crazy in a way that made him a
human being on a level approaching Gandhi or MLK.
Quote from: PopeTom on March 21, 2010, 11:20:31 PM
Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
Is it just because he was a West Coast eccentric and the whole shebang started up out there?
Within the past couple of years I had discovered the life of "Lord" Timothy Dexter (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Dexter_%28businessman%29). I can't help but think he did more to upset the establishment of the day by being successful through sheer stupid luck.
Because he was the Goddamn Emperor. That's why.
NOT MY EMPEROR!
Quote from: malvarma on July 10, 2010, 11:40:54 PM
NOT MY EMPEROR!
Well, obviously not, seeing as he died in 1880!
I don't understand the question.
That Norton is a Discordian role model is axiomatic to me. It's like asking why things exist.
Fucking Things, why do they exist?
Fucking miracles
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 12:45:33 PM
Fucking Things, why do they exist?
Steady on there, you
Thingophobe, some of my best friends are 'Things'!
Quote from: malvarma on July 10, 2010, 11:40:54 PM
NOT MY EMPEROR!
Then go move to Cuba, you fucking communist.
Quote from: BadBeast on July 12, 2010, 08:05:30 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 12:45:33 PM
Fucking Things, why do they exist?
Steady on there, you Thingophobe, some of my best friends are 'Things'!
Oh, don't get me wrong, I really, really
like fucking Things.
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 08:07:54 PM
Quote from: BadBeast on July 12, 2010, 08:05:30 PM
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 12:45:33 PM
Fucking Things, why do they exist?
Steady on there, you Thingophobe, some of my best friends are 'Things'!
Oh, don't get me wrong, I really, really like fucking Things.
And that's why every tailpipe in Boston has that weird glaze.
STOP JUDGING ME!
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 08:10:39 PM
STOP JUDGING ME!
I wasn't judging, I was simply making an observation.
But you are taking a hell of a risk, exposing your junk near the exhaust system of a car. That's where the sand gooks take their sustenance, when they cling to the chassis like ticks. Or so I have heard from an Englishman.
"sand gooks"?
Quote from: LMNO on July 12, 2010, 08:17:12 PM
"sand gooks"?
Quote from: Old Man RoanokeOh yes. They hunt me. I have fought the sand gook for thirty years or more. They know my name. Their men are impotent with hate and their women smell like a baby's graveyard.
There are no Antses in Cuba...
Quote from: Lysergic on March 22, 2010, 03:28:22 PM
Wow, I can't believe people are asking such questions here.
Go burn yourself at the stake, heathen, til you learn your lesson as to why you should not question ancient discordian wisdom.
So it is written, so shall it be, AND DONT ASK WHY OR YOU WON'T GET ANY SUPPER BEFORE BED
but.... but.... ugh.
It could very well be that Mal2 didn't feature dexter because he didn't know about him. This was the 50/60's, there was no internet to look for crazy people.
Quote from: el sjaako on October 30, 2010, 04:39:19 PM
It could very well be that Mal2 didn't feature dexter because he didn't know about him. This was the 50/60's, there was no internet to look for crazy people.
SINISTER DEXTER HAS A BROKEN SPIROMETER! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/45.php) - PD, page 38
Quote from: Telarus on October 30, 2010, 11:51:23 PM
SINISTER DEXTER HAS A BROKEN SPIROMETER! (http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/45.php) - PD, page 38
Hill: It's a name I came up with in the old days and never used it much. Its on page 38 of the Principia referring to Vice President Spiro Agnew. I always thought I invented it but now it sounds like a Stan Freberg name now that I think about it. It may have stuck in my preconscious memory from early TV. (http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Interview_with_Norton_Cabal) NORTON CABAL INTERVIEW, P. 5 (I think from the loompanics edition? It's in my Diggory Press edition)
So which dexter where you referring to, Captain Contextless?
Sidenote: Sweeet - http://sinisterdexter.net/index.php
"Lord" Timothy Dexter, you know, the one this thread was more or less about?
Quote from: PopeTom on March 21, 2010, 11:20:31 PM
Has there ever been an explanation as to why Emperor Norton took on such a role as he has in Discordiaism?
If Emperor Norton did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
Quote from: el sjaako on October 31, 2010, 08:42:02 AM
"Lord" Timothy Dexter, you know, the one this thread was more or less about?
Oh, my bad. I thought this was a different thread. :oops:
For those of you who wish to "read more" into lord timothy, apparently here is his "book".
http://www.lordtimothydexter.com/the_holl_pickle_1.htm