Having just spent a week at Burning Man, I can assure you that it makes perfect sense.
What do you mean you can’t figure it out? ‘There is no hope’. – that’s the message.
I totally hear his voice when I read these words. Remember Crumb didn’t subscribe to the Hippy belief system. Of course he’s going to bring the hammer down.
Reminds me of several similar diagrams and illustrations from The Book of the Subgenius. Which totally makes sense since Crumb is a member and early promoter of that slack-tacular organization…
I like it, I wouldn’t point chaos directly to death though.
If yer hand is under yer own butt, yer not doing the sex right.
It makes perfect sense when you realize he left out the essential connection between the Feeling/Thought nexus and the Outer Limits. Just sketch that in, you’ll see.
Man, I love this diagram. I kind of want to hear George Carlin narrating in voice over explaining the various elements, though.
source? (Lots of cartoonists have been and/or are SubGenii, but I’ve never even heard a rumor of Crumb actively participating.)
Here’s a quote from Ivan Stang taken from this thread:
“… R. Crumb and Frank Zappa have both plugged the Church
often, though they didn’t spend the $. (Crumb sent some GREAT clip art
though, good enough to be worth the $20 (1983 prices).”
He also gets a mention (and his picture) on the Wikipedia entry for the Church of the Subgenius:
Notable associates of the Church include Mark Mothersbaugh, Mojo Nixon, Paul Mavrides, Paul Reubens, members of Negativland, and R. Crumb. Crumb, a cartoonist, provided early publicity for the church by reprinting Sub Genius Pamphlet #1 in his comics anthology Weirdo. References to the Church are present in several works of art, including the Internet-based collaborative fiction Ong’s Hat, the comic book The Middleman, the band Sublime’s album 40oz. to Freedom, and the television program Pee-wee’s Playhouse.
Huh. I wonder which issue of Weirdo.
I think the subtext of the diagram gives it some sense
The purpose of this diagram is not to be mean, not to be a bring-down. We’re not trying to make sensitive little girls depressed. The purpose of this diagram is to convince you earnestly and in all sincerity that there is NO HOPE so that you will be transformed by the cold hard truth. Once you accept the reality of NO HOPE you can begin to approach your life in a new way. Now you can take your head out of the clouds, quit looking to some illusion of a perfect future and start living in the present. Knowing that there is in fact, NO HOPE, and feeling this great realization with your whole being will slam you back to the real world like you’ve never been before. Come on! You can handle it!
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
