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I was raised Catholic, but never really bought into it. My parents, on the other hand, were pretty devout.

One summer they sent me, along with all the other Catholic kids in the area, to a big sleep-over/rally at the diocese of the region. I was about 13 at the time. I remember we got there a bit late, and the 'fun' (cough cough) was already in full swing. Everybody was singing songs and such, clapping away. I sat down next to this gomer who was completely into the singing and clapping. Big fuckin' smile on his ol' face. He looks over at me.

"Why aren't you clapping?" he asked me.

I replied "Well, I hurt my wrist the other day playing basketball."

His smile fades, and becomes an icy death stare "You know, most people sprain their ankles playing basketball, not their wrists...."

I start slapping the back of my arm.

Later that night, we had a dance. They had one rule... "We like to see Blue, we like seeing Pink, we do not like seeing Purple" This was how they explained that they didn't want the boys and the girls dancing to close to each other, you know, in case they got pregnant (I am not making this shit up). I had met this girl there, and we hit it off really well, so we started dancing. WE REALLY weren't all that close to each other, but every once and a while they would come by and shove a ruler between us. They literally had a goddamn stick that they shoved in between kids that were too close for their comfort.

Next morning, I skip the hymns and the singing and the breakfast, and headed out to the back where these young prep cooks were having a smoke. I bummed a smoke off of them, at sat down on a stool.

"So, are with this religion thing that's going on?" they asked.

"Not anymore".

My parents were completely baffled that a weekend with a whole slew of Catholics turned me into a heathen that took up smoking cigarettes. I told them they should be lucky it's not heroin.

Fuck, man... get your quote-fu right.

For a second there, I thought, "what the hell happened to my writing style, and why the hell would I say that?"

My quote-fu is weak. That's why I'm here.

This grasshopper needs practice.....

Sacrifices we've made? Screw that; I thought supposed to be having fun with this shit.

Besides, can you imagine how hilarious it would be to have more robots reprogramming themselves?

Just saying there's probably a few people on these boards that spend an awful lot of time trying to throw a little disorder out there to solve a 'problem'. The thing about disorder is that you don't know what will come out the other end. If you have no goal in mind, this is a goddamn blast. But if you're trying to solve an issue, or 'problem', with chaos, well, you might be disappointed by what comes out the other end.

p.s Robot reprogramming themselves? The first thing that came to mind was Skynet.

Excellent points all around. Also a major reason why I think, if anything, we can hopefully fix some of our own programming or not be as robotic ourselves... But I am far less confident that any major shift will take place among the general population, unless its from robot to drone.

Is that a step up or a step down....?

 

Alright, this may very well be the stupidest question ever asked on this forum, and may very well be laughed off the boards seeing as how I've only been here a day, but...

What, exactly, is the problem?

Now, I understand we're talking about most people knowing they're on some sort of 'autopilot' for a large part of the day (everyone does it, I'm sure most people here have regular jobs and aren't making explosives in their basement out of human fat). But trying to change the entire social order of the way the human race has operated on for the last goddess-knows-how-many years (Oligarchy for the most part) is a pretty tall order, and in my opinion A) not going to happen anytime soon B) maybe not an entirely good idea.

Now, hear me out. NostalgicBadger pointed out that there's probably a good chance most of us weren't very popular children, and I have a feeling he's right. Why?

Because being an individual is a goddamn tough life, especially as a child. Individuals stand out and get noticed, and the ruling body hates ideas that would counter its rule. If the class clown stands up to the school bully, the bully has two choices ; stand down as the alpha or kick the class clown's ass (two obvious choices, anyways. I mean, he COULD go make himself a sandwich). The body that makes up the mass of the population, in this case his school mates, also have two choices; stand up for the class clown or do nothing (again, two obvious choices. Seeing them break out into a choreographed version of 'Greased Lighting' would be awesome).

Most people do nothing. Why? Because they're lazy or scared.


Now to my point. In most cases I've seen (all anecdotal evidence, by-the-by) the people who are scared and/or willing to stand up to the bully stick together, and yes it's usually all the fantastically odd and weird kids. Everyone else is too lazy and not scared enough to change the way things are, or benefit directly from the bully being in charge. This little group doesn't have the power to change the hearts and minds of everyone at the school. They just bind together and do their own thing, trying to enjoy themselves.

So why help them? Why help the complacent, the apathetic, the leeches that exist? Because what I'm hearing here is a willingness to help people stop being robots and start being individuals. Is it an altruistic drive that lies inside of you? Some sort of sense of good you feel the need to achieve? Why waste your life helping people who may not be grateful, who may not appreciate the sacrifices you've made to help them see clearer. I personally don't get it myself.

Any thoughts? Maybe I'm just a selfish dickhead.

It may be rigged or not rigged... but the people seem to be falling for two major CoN's.

A) If they were King things would be better
and
B) A King is necessary for their Hope to be realized.

It's like Mr. Obama, sure he has the audacity of hope, he's inspiring people all over the country to say Yes We Can. However, the people have ALWAYS had the power to bring about change, maybe not stop the War or give everyone Universal Healthcare, but YES THEY COULD HAVE done a lot of stuff to improve the world around them without the government, without a charismatic leader and without 'HOPE'.

People don't need someone to give them hope... they need to get off their asses and DO something. here is a car in my neighborhood that is plastered with liberal bumper stickers, a number of which scream about the Environment and Global Warming and how much of an asshole Bush is. The other conspicuous aspect of this vehicle is the black smoke of burning oil which has poured from its exhaust ever since I've seen the car around. They may have hope for the Obamanation.... but they could, instead (or along with) go get the seals replaced on their vehicle. People like that remind me of the Thursdayists. They have hope that SOMEONE will be in charge to fix the problems, so they focus on elections and politics and yelling about this bastard and that bastard and meanwhile they're driving a gas guzzler that burns oil.

The same seems true of many programs that everyone HOPES their candidate will bring to the government. Some Conservatives think that charities and private groups should be caring for the needy, rather than the government caring for them... but, they're not out there DOING it. They just say it and HOPE the next King will wave a magic wand and make it true. I am reminded of the situation in NOLA when the hurricane hit. The people had HOPE that their local, State and Federal governments would take care of them... so most of them didn't bother to take care of themselves. They were carrying televisions, and belongings into the Superdome, but not water or food. It was public knowledge that the Levees might not withstand a Cat 5 hurricane, but most of these people weren't even prepared with a couple jugs of water, just in case they might need it.

Hope, often seems to me like Faith. Its a way for some to fool their brain into thinking that they're DOING something (like cheering on a Obama rally) without actually DOING anything (like getting their car fixed).

You're right, I can't really argue with that. I'd love to tell you that people are willing to do some WORK to make HOPE happen, but that isn't how it works at all. In reality, like you said, people want a magic King to bring his wand and make all the bad go away.

But, there's no magic wand. And I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of disappointed people if Obama wins...

"Alright people, I'm now the president! Let's get to work and make this country a better place for everyone!!!"

"....Pardon me? Isn't that YOUR job? I'M trying to make enough money to buy myself the luxury of severely reducing my contact with other human beings. Or at least that's what I'm HOPING for. Go Powerball!!!"

The way the piece is set up is a completely randomized process where everyone has an equal chance of becoming King.

Whether or not this is even a good idea isn't really my point at this time.

In a completely randomized process, the Hope is justified, because they have an equal shot of King-ness as everyone else.

However, in a rigged system the Hope is completly bogus, and is used as a tool for the rigger to stay in power.  The masses don't question the results, because they think it's completely random, and that they will someday have King-ness.

But they won't.  The game is rigged, and they will always be exploited.


It feels weird I have to explain that.

OP, I liked your story.

As far as the argument of the 'piece' being set-up to be completely random, I'd like to disagree. There's no way that this system would be either completely random or completely rigged. 
In the case of it being completely random, that's almost impossible, because SOMEONE has to draw names out of the hat. Maybe they got a quick peek inside and were able to make out the names. Maybe when the little name cards were being made they were made a different size or even a different shape. Who knows? Would the SAME person draw out the cards every time? And damnit, who does the hat belong to?

And on the flip side, on the appointment of the King of Thursday being rigged, well, that's almost impossible too. You can never have COMPLETE control of a system, just like you can never make something completely water-proof. Especially in terms of human relations, like voting or drawing names out of a hat, because there are way too many people like us, the kind of people who make up fake names to put in the hat, the kind of people to tell the King of Thursday to go fuck a fire hydrant, the kind of people who decide to straight up shit inside this Kingly headgear.

All I'm saying is that the 'system' is always going to be a little random, and it's going to be a little rigged. You might not have a very big piece of paper and you may not know the person pulling names outta the hat. But even if your chance is way smaller than others, you still have a chance. Hope is only bogus if Hope is all you have. You always need a little push to make Hope happen.

It's very grey here today.

No one who has posted in this thread until now is worth anything at all.

Join me! I'll teach you to be a REALLY REAL Discordian. Also there will be lubeless anal.

.........Blood is a lubricant...........

...Just saying.....

...Just saying...

Haha, maybe I came of a little 'Goth' there. I was shooting for more of a 'British black humour' angle.

Different grids, I guess.

No one who has posted in this thread until now is worth anything at all.

Join me! I'll teach you to be a REALLY REAL Discordian. Also there will be lubeless anal.

.........Blood is a lubricant...........

...Just saying.....

Just dipping my toes in, feeling the water out. Been lurking for a while. This particular thread was getting noticed by some of the people whose posts I liked reading.

They seemed like more serious Discordians. Which is an oxymoron in itself. Go figure.

(I'm kidding about the serious part. I taste better with a grain of salt.)

What can I say? It was a bit of a toss up between the large Introduction page in Apple talk, or this little one here.

I figured throwing myself out in the little pond was a better choice. Couldn't tell you why, though.

I, too, should introduce myself.

Hello.