I loved this stuff in the 90’s Hail Eris discordians and all that. Now? looking around at Qanon and the genral insanity of the USA? It’s less funny less appealing. I feel like the Qanon shit started off as a similar joke and then was co opted by political operatives.
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If The Illuminatus! Trilogy was made into a movie today it would be considered a documentary, not epic fantasy.
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I more-or-less identify as a Discordian (hail Eris!) It appeals to me in a philosophical sense, because it reminds me that we’re rarely as objective as we think. We usually look at everything through a filter of our own viewpoints, history, and environment. And the more we look for a certain thing, the more we’re likely to find it. (That’s the Law of Fives, if anyone’s curious.) So, at the same time, we should keep an open mind and be skeptical of what we see (“Think for yourself, schmuck!”) Plus it’s a welcome reminder not to take things seriously all the time, which I tend to do. 
I get how silly thought experiments like the Church of the SubGenius and Discordianism can be dangerous if taken too far, so I don’t blame people for worrying. I still appreciate them as a way to challenge our worldviews, so we don’t become unthinking, joyless Grayfaces. These religions can be a useful tool if used wisely… but how do we encourage that? Maybe a movie about how CotS came to be, including the founders’ view on how and why it was created, might help?
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Meh, it’s not really all that great. It doesn’t give me the political influence that some of the more mainstream religions offer.
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A ‘religion’ is any cult with enough armed followers. Unarmed Slackers? Piffle. 4Chan and Qanon approach ‘religion’ status; Discordianism and the Church of All Worlds don’t. Sad.
On another note, I define Human Games as non-productive activities pursued to organize and occupy the time of the participants, including spectators. Yes, fans are players, too. Politics, religion, arts, and athletics all qualify. Futbol is the opiate of the masses. Holy hatred comes next.
Feature of such Human Games:
- They’re created and run for the benefit of the owners, not the participants.
- Participants tend toward violence Note soccer hooligans, media hooligans, party thugs, etc.
- Disputes provoke fission. Faiths, parties, teams, acts, split and fight on.
- Even movements started as jokes or parodies can become serious cults. Yikes.
“Bob” is probably a golfer. The link is obvious.
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All hail the Bleeding Head of Arnold Palmer!
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Pope Gregory XIII
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See, a Christian!
Clearly there’s something fishy going on they don’t want us to know.
Guy talking @ 02:04 https://youtu.be/jJdJEEZvhsA?t=124 has GOT to be the same person who voice acted some of the scientists in Half-Life 1
Edit: Holy shit! https://half-life.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_S._Robins#:~:text=Robins%20
This was my finest comment to date. Good work, buddy!
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I always saw it as CoSG being for former megachurch and Bible Belt types, the true teachings of the Principia DiscordiaFNORD for those who were raised in a more Catholic/Anglican/Episcopalian tradition.
And Eris doesn’t really mind, and is royally ticked off, and is amused all at the same time. Goddesses can be like thatFNORD.
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I think the biggest lesson from all of these “irreligions” (as one well-written essay described them) is the underlying principle of “Ha Ha Only Serious”. Don’t take yourself too seriously, but to think it’s all a joke, either. The whole trick, where the original Discordians like Thornley, Hill, Wilson, and so on pulled it off just right, was to get the joke clearly a joke, and make the serious bits actually interesting glimpses into creating one’s own worldview.
Er, as long as it recognises that the only true god is Eris, of course.
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So could this be where the messaging app Slack got it’s name from? Or Discord for that matter?
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Well, there’s this:
Slackware refers to the “pursuit of Slack”, a tenet of the Church of the SubGenius, a parody religion. Certain aspects of Slackware graphics reflect this—the pipe that Tux is smoking, as influenced by the image of J. R. “Bob” Dobbs’ head.
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I’m intermittently re-reading LOST HORIZON, trying to ignore Hilton’s casual racism. I’m at Conway’s mention of a slacker, English slang for “a lazy fellow, a good-for-nothing.” Chang replies,
“It is significant… that the English regard slackness as a vice. We [in Shangri-La], on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?”
Western world: Tension good, slackness bad." Beware of them English.
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No
Not sure if business insider is worse than google so enjoy the amp link
For the record Slack is a JavaScript electron app which sucks balls nobody dares criticize because modern tech is a lame joke comprised of corporate ass kissers
My generation is largely to blame for this crap (“wow yes the entire world should be JavaScript yayyyyyy”) and I accept it
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The Church of the Subgenius coupled with Illuminatus! and associated Discordianism were my gateways into many a wonderful thing. So hell yeah Praise “Bob” and Hail Eris!
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