You know, Cainad, Salinger was a fucking jackass.

[Suu]

John Wilkes Booth was known to carry a copy.

Time traveling presidential assassins FTW.

[Suu]

Mark David Chapman was carrying it when he got caught, and I think Hinkley was connected to it in some way also, wasn't he?

Mark David Chapman also quoted it during his trial. This is because he's fucking psycho and killed John Lennon, not because the book made him do it.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

John Wilkes Booth was known to carry a copy.

Time traveling presidential assassins FTW.

Crazy but clever, that guy.

[hooplala]

Mark David Chapman was carrying it when he got caught, and I think Hinkley was connected to it in some way also, wasn't he?

Mark David Chapman also quoted it during his trial. This is because he's fucking psycho and killed John Lennon, not because the book made him do it.

Yes.  What part did he quote?  Any idea?

[Cain]

He referred to himself using the name of the main character several times, and I believe he wrote a letter to his wife signed Holden Caufield as well.

[Suu]

Mark David Chapman was carrying it when he got caught, and I think Hinkley was connected to it in some way also, wasn't he?

Mark David Chapman also quoted it during his trial. This is because he's fucking psycho and killed John Lennon, not because the book made him do it.

Yes.  What part did he quote?  Any idea?

Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around — nobody big, I mean — except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff — I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be.

[Fuquad]

Mark David Chapman was carrying it when he got caught, and I think Hinkley was connected to it in some way also, wasn't he?

Lee Harvey Oswald put it under his elbow to steady his aim.

To be fair he was hiding behind boxes full of the thing. It's not like he chose the book.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Mark David Chapman was carrying it when he got caught, and I think Hinkley was connected to it in some way also, wasn't he?

Lee Harvey Oswald put it under his elbow to steady his aim.

To be fair he was hiding behind boxes full of the thing. It's not like he chose the book.

That's just what they want you to think.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I have really mixed feelings about the OP.

My first impression of it is that it is yet another "I'm better/more enlightened/having more fun than that person" rant, based almost entirely on minimalizing the accomplishments and life of a literary icon, not just as a literary icon but as a human being. Maybe there's more to it than that, and I might read it again to see if I'm missing something. To assume that Salinger didn't know how to have fun is quite a stretch, considering so little is known about his later years. To say  that he thought he "didn't need people" seems quite a stretch as well, considering that he left behind a widow, and appears to have had several people close to him in the years leading up to his death.

The only book of Salinger's I've read was Franny and Zooey, and it was OK. Not the level of "OMG that is my favorite book now" that I was led to expect, but basically, I don't care, as my favorite book is also not everyone else's, and if it was I would find the world a lot less interesting.

Anyway, what was the point of this again? I feel like I MUST have missed something.

[Payne]

I had a big assed reply on the go saying much the same as the ConVol, but my computer died. Suffice tosay that i did not agree with OP and when I can use a keyboard to type instead of a PS3 controller, I will elaborate.

[Salty]

I don't think I'm more enlightened than anyone, in fact I find the goal of enlightenment to be just another escape. For me, anyway.

My point was I could see so much of my own actions and beliefs in this man's life, of which I admittedly know little of beyond what wikipedia has to say, and it sort of scared me.

I have over the last few years become increasingly closed off from other people. I've always been aloof, but recently have driven all but a handful of people out of my life. I don't have a lot of friends and the ones I do have I rarely see. I don't "go out", I don't "have fun".

My point was sitting at home with supplements, "esoteric" knowledge, and writing was the life that I wanted, was heading towards. I just wanted to find peace in being alone.

And I don't think that's healthy.

I don't really care about Salinger one way or another, really. This rant wasn't so much about him as much as it's about how I don't want to die hermetic and alone.

It may be my style putting you off, which is funny because this was me in a chipper mood, happy to be free of another shackle and looking forward to making connections with people.

My first impression of it is that it is yet another "I'm better/more enlightened/having more fun than that person" rant

Where are these other ones again? I don't see a whole lot of people professing to be better than others around here, and those instances in which that does happen seem to me to be tongue-in-cheek.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I have over the last few years become increasingly closed off from other people. I've always been aloof, but recently have driven all but a handful of people out of my life. I don't have a lot of friends and the ones I do have I rarely see. I don't "go out", I don't "have fun".

My point was sitting at home with supplements, "esoteric" knowledge, and writing was the life that I wanted, was heading towards. I just wanted to find peace in being alone.

And I don't think that's healthy.

Of course it isn't.  Try this instead:

Bounce screaming down the side of a mountain in a beat-to-shit jeep, shooting out the window, and not paying much attention to where you're going.  When you wreck, blame it on the wildlife.

This has always worked for me, and if it hasn't enlightened me, it has emptied my bowels, thus at least making me lighter.

[hooplala]

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be alone.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be alone.

I do.  It's hard to vent my spleen on monkeys when there aren't any around.

[Hangshai]

Alty that was awesome.  The main message I jive with is the part about having fun.  Too many times it seems that things get bogged down with fights and arguments over the 'finer points'.  Well, I for one have calloused my fingers(and soul) from trying to keep them on the pulse of whats 'real' to the point that I can barely even feel anymore. The main meaning I get from discordianism is, above all, have fun!  Enjoy life!  Laugh and be absurd!  Because if you're not seeing the absurdity in it all, and the ease of it all, then you're looking to hard or in the wrong place.  All the other gods were arrogantly bickering and arguing over who was the prettiest or most handsome (or smartest, or best at anything, or whatever), and Eris comes along and showed them (and me) that not only are they missing the point completely, but the answer isn't something that needs to be hunted down, it can be seen if only you can get over yourself first.  Sure, it almost seems like what resonates as the truth (to me) has been obfuscated over time, but that seems like something we(humans) have done ourselves, as a consequence of not being able to see whats right in front of us.  Muddying the waters by agitating them so much through our fevered shivering while searching through life for a speck of meaning, like a dope sick junkie on the bathroom floor at 3 a.m. looking for a sliver of junk to calm his nerves.

(Sorry, Alty, not trying to hijack, and im not trying to define anything(especially discord), just saying what it means to myself.)

Great post again, Alty.