Rant 167: History

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Rant 167
History

"Anyone who prefers wealth or power to true friendship is out of his mind."
-Euripides

"Your species doesn't, as a whole, at least admittedly, eat its own young. It just makes them slave away carrying other people's food and shit or it sends them out to slaughter other young. And you call yourselves the most evolved species, huh?"
-The White Mouse (from the "Blue Light Sessions")

Supposedly from the earliest times (whenever that was), Discordians have been mostly hated and despised by the vast majority of people, or so it goes. But just in metaphor, since the vast majority of people have never even heard of such a thing as Discordianism. People these days who call themselves Discordians look back at past social, political, and religious heretics and think of them as Discordians as a sort of source of inspiration. And there may be some truth to the idea that many of these unwitting past "Discordians" might have called themselves such a thing if they had known about it. But we shouldn't let this metaphor or idea blind us even while we allow ourselves to explore the implications of people in the past struggling for or expressing the cause of human freedom and wonder.

What the vast majority of people have supposedly hated and feared since time immemorial is chaos. Anyone or anything that couldn't be fit into preconceived categories or groups has been despised and feared. The very fact that existence is chaos has been denied and any idea leading minds to this fact has been denounced as wrong or silly. Any idea or scheme or project that leads to change is very often derided as impossible or false simply because it leads to conceptions about reality that disagree with the prejudices and cognocentrism of the dominant social ethos.

Many times in history, heretics (i.e. those who choose for themselves what to think about and/or believe in, as opposed to those who are merely willing to follow someone else's thoughts or beliefs) have been bullied, imprisoned, tortured and killed. Pagans have killed heretics as easily and as readily as Christians and Muslims have. Atheists have also killed heretics of all stripes and colors. And, I venture to say that, though it may be rare due to the nature of our irreligion, Discordians have also done their share of persecuting heretics and others deemed "normal" or "boring" or "pink" or "gray," (note: all of these terms used to mean something, but nowadays it seems they all mean "different from Discordians").

Since the global society around us has been yet again hijacked by fear since the Fundamentalists of Muslim and Christian persuasions started their crap again, Discordians these days appear to be gearing up for another bought of persecution mania. Only this time, instead of the persecution being against Discordians as heretics, it appears that many Discordians are going around doing society's job for free by persecuting other Discordians and other types of heretics simply for being different or for disagreeing. Why worry about being hated by the so-called normals for free-thought or for "thought-crimes" when some of your own fellow Discordians will gladly persecute and bully you just for the chance to look more cool or more advanced or more chaos-chic than you. (Yes, chaos-chic, as in, "we are more chaotic than you" and other such failures to get the joke.)

Just as one example: Many of today's Discordians seem to have a thing for the Chaos Magic side of the occult. Many others are bitterly against any form of magic seeing it in the exact way that Atheists dogmatically see it as superstition and such. But the example is not in the interminable squabbling between tunnel vision infected partisans on either side of this debate. The example is in the Chaos Magic movement itself, which may sadly show just where Discordianism is heading if we don't get over ourselves soon. When Chaos Magic first congealed, it was very similar to the Discordian take on life, but narrowly confined to the small occult subcultures in England and America. Chaos Magic practitioners wrote manifestoes and formed groups and denounced all of the other occultists as being stuck in the past and of being to closed-minded and "normal." (Note: the word "normal" among occultists may not seem to fit, but it is used in context.) Then Chaos Magic practitioners immediately set about to the task of going after one another and became divided between the mere dabblers and the "real, serious," Chaos Magicians who rode their lives on a wave of cultural pioneerism and "We are better than thou-ism." (Otherwise known as the "We are better than the herd-ism.") Without much time passing, the CM movement pretty much died in a haze of wanna-be hardcore punk and death metal meandering with the only interesting thing to come of it being the Cthulhu mythos being made into an irreligion.

Discordianism hasn't escaped from this sort of crap happening to itself as a movement either (and that's why I discussed the whole "what happened to the CM movement" thing). There are forever or always people coming to Discordianism with chips on their shoulders and bugs up their asses, and this is not in itself much of a problem. (It can be quite entertaining, really.) The problem is when such people try to get other Discordians to do and say and think as such people think they should do, say, and think. "Otherwise," say such people, "you can't be a real Discordian." And thus, we show ourselves as being just as narrow-minded and prejudiced as the larger society from which we claim to be different.

In history, as anyone who has spent any time reading Classical writings would know, these sorts of debates and happenings were going on all the time, so there is nothing special about it from that perspective. The thing to get out of this perspective is to see that all of our modern day thoughts and ideas and statements about how stupid most people are or about how we are doomed or about how society is going to become a prison (or that it is a prison, though I don't see many such people complaining about not having to go out and hunt for their own food)...all of these ideas which we express and then think of as unique or new, have already been expressed thousands of times in the past thousands of years. Human nature hasn't changed much. People, whether Discordians or otherwise, seem to hate anything new or anything that changes any other thing. People still loath and fear visionaries, while they lap up any benefits of the visions. People still attack, maim, and kill one another for being different or smart or stupid or godless or heretical or any other reason. People still go about as mental and spiritual cripples while laughing and deriding anyone else who tries to heal and un-cripple themselves. The old game is still played and just because we claim to be able to see through it, doesn't make us any more special than any other people across the vastness of human history who have seen through it. The so-called conspiracy of normal is just as adept at using heresy for its purpose nowadays as at any other time in history. (Look at what happened to Jesus Christ, or Socrates, or many other historical people respected, yet killed by their own people for thought-crimes.)

We are no different just because we can think differently. The question is, do we act differently? Do we even have the courage to even form our own attitudes as opposed to just picking and choosing the attitudes inculcated into us from childhood by society? The same thing with emotions. We seem to believe that we inherit them and must feel by choosing among a palette of pre-fabricated emotions, instead of trying to create our own. It's not the thoughts of feelings that really count (even if we make a big deal about how "chaos-chic" they are). It's how we go about thinking and feeling in and of itself. The way we think and feel, our attitudes, if you will. Are our interactions and relationships free, or are we just following along the inculcated patterns of habit taught to us by the society of "normals" which we claim to be better than. It's not in the forms themselves (the friends, fellows, brothers, sisters, parents, lovers, etc.) but in the freedom of being one's own person and allowing others the same freedom. Remember that? It seems like I am just blowing off hot air, but really thing about it. Who do you befriend? People who think "freely" like you and who can be labeled as Discordians even unknowingly? Or anyone who shows even a spark of life and freedom, no matter how normal or mundane their life's form is?

"The butterfly is dangerous to the cocoon. But the cocoon's destruction is inevitable regardless." (-The White Mouse, paraphrasing Phil Hine; from the "Blue Light Sessions.")

Above-the-herd-ism is a dangerous and insidious viral meme that we rightly denounce when we see it expressed by Fundamentalists of other stripes, such as Christians, Muslims, or certain Atheists, and so forth. But when people from within the Discordian Society express the same sort of idea, do we recognize it for what it is? Not usually because we are too busy trying to prove ourselves more pretty or better than the rest. We are too busy knocking each other down and like lobsters in a pot, we try to drag anyone who strikes out for freedom back into the pot simply because, though we would never admit it to ourselves, misery loves company.

Instead of looking at history, even our own short modern Discordian Society's history, we claim to be smarter than the average bear or better than the average Pagan, or prettier on the inside than the average Joe-normal, Jane-pink, little-Billy, or redneck Mary. We go on and on about how much better we are than the masses without any sense of self-irony and in sharp ignorance of the fact that the last time such "above-the-herd-ism" was popular was among the Fascists in Europe just before WWII broke out. The Fascists loathed democracy as the tyranny of the masses. The masses of normal were derided for being machine-like and automatons who shouldn't be trusted with running the affairs of society. "No," said the Fascists, "we need 'special' people who are above the common herd to rule society and to tell us what to think." Back before then, this type of thought was called aristocratism. In the nineteen-twenties and thirties this was called Fascism. In the sixties through the eighties, it was called "cult of personality." Today, many people call it "elitism."

What the hell is our excuse for not seeing this threat for what it is and then again for nurturing it? And then what is our excuse for attacking and deriding even fellow Discordians who are trying to throw off the mental, spiritual (and even physical) manacles? Sure, the behavior is as common as humanity, but remember we Discordians consider ourselves hip to the game? So we of all groups have no excuse and no recourse. We are, quite simply, exhibiting as much stupidity as any group of armed militias who are afraid of Mexicans crossing the US border. Instead of seeing Discordianism in as many forms as there are Discordians, we go around using definitions or the urge to definition as an excuse to be vile to one another.

Have we forgotten that what we consider normal and full of order is just as much chaos as what we consider disorder and weird? Have we forgotten that our own brand of chaos is just as much chaos as any other brand? The only distinction that matters is freedom (and even "freedom" can be hijacked for a cause that purports to be about freedom). If a Discordian, whether like or disliked by you, is happily trudging away in an "orderly" fashion from within the margins of a "normal" life, you can say what you will about this, but remember that the conclusions you jump to are your own. Freedom and prejudice are ever in enmity across the battle fields of delusion, sense and nonsense, and meaning-meaninglessness. One hates and fears differences because that means chaos can't be held onto or controlled. The other cherishes and tolerates differences (regardless of the personal tastes of the person holding to it) because it means that chaos can't be held onto or controlled and this means that there is always hope for life.

Eris didn't set us free. She told us we are free. She still tells us we are free. Because the major difference between freedom and the slavery of prejudice (or narrow-mindedness) is choice...heresy (at least the original meaning of the word), whether that heresy resembles what may be considered "normal" or whether that heresy appears as the most outlandish and silly fucking expression ever known to humankind. It's not the silly hat you wear on your head, but what is inside that head and how that head goes about seeing things that matters. It's not the length of your hair, or the clothes you wear, or the jewelry you flaunt. It's not the games you play, whether mindfucking or not. Nor is it the Discordian groups you belong to (or which belong to you, or whether the difference is useful). What matters, I venture to say, is that you feel free enough to choose for yourself.

My fellow Discordians, whether you love me, hate me, or are indifferent or ambivalent towards me, whether you agree or disagree with me, or whether you haven't made up your mind (and never in fact intent to), let's not fall victim to history. Let's not have the Discordian Society to be yet another historical mistake or another vehicle that can be hijacked by fundamentalists who are afraid that the vary nature of the universe is laughter (whether this idea makes the rest of us laugh or cry). I am not saying that we all need to get along or that we all have to accept one another, but on the flip side, we would do well to remember what Discordianism means in terms of freedom and perhaps learn to respect differences no matter how much we disagree with the forms through which another expresses themselves.

I know you think that this is an attempt to be rational, I am not going to stand for such slander of my horrible character. It is just something to think about.


May 18th, 2006
-Irreverend Hugh, KSC;
Episkopos of the DSSS/PMM, Arch-Drunk in the Church of Eris, Sub-Underling of the Hoshi Church, Chairperson of the Dept. of Pigeon Evangelism for the Gerfrickdan Sect,
and (Con)Founder of the Flaming Church of Baby Jesus on a Motorbike.
(Failing these, there is always witchcraft. You know, pins and dolls and odd-tasting stews.)

[East Coast Hustle]

interesting rant.

I think I saw an example of what you were talking about earlier today on some other website.

maybe I'll dig up a link later.

[East Coast Hustle]

ahh....here it is:

Some of you so-called pathetic and maladjusted wasted slivers of life are actually going around thinking that there is such a thing as a real Discordian who practices Mindfucks in an organized way and who hates the State and the "Normals(tm)". Well, first off, not to break your irreplaceable ego-bubble but Discordianism isn't even a real fucking religion, let alone a real fucking movement. And as far as chaos is concerned, most of you just use it as an excuse to be stupid, incomprehenisble, childish, and boring. Or you use chaos as an excuse to saty stoopid and not learn about anything that threatens your sense of who you think you are because that might actually ential some sort of thought...if you could just put down the bong. If you need to use chaos or discord as a label or a cover for what you do, then you are a fucking sheeperson.

Some of you go around calling your various jerking-offs and abuses "jihads". And you don;t even fucking realize the joke. The Jihad...the orginal one back in '04 was against any and all sorts of "Real Discordians(tm" who go around trying to root out posers and such. Wake up. If you call yourself Discordian, you are a fucking poser. (Remember? Fake religion?)

Silly fucking gits. Consider this your excommunication notice. Here's my Erisian salute to you.

(The above excludes all of those whom it does exclude.)

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

Hahahahahahahahahaha!

[East Coast Hustle]

srsly, wasn't that teh FUNNAY?

[LMNO]

[Irreverend Hugh, KSC]

srsly, wasn't that teh FUNNAY?

Absolutely.

It has such a ....a ....a "sirius" sounding tone. I wonder what that fool was getting at.