Post by Dr. Caliginous, VII on Mar 24, 2015 19:30:27 GMT
So, uh. Essentially, I recently acquired several folders of writing from an ex-Discordian named Ukelele the Short (whose name I'm withholding out of a pretense of respect for personal privacy, though the simplest of detective work will reveal his identity), some of which appear to concern the Discordian society itself. None of them appear to be recorded anywhere else, and the only reference I can find to them elsewhere is one of the science fiction stories listed under the wrong name mentioned off-hand in some sort of publishing database thing? Bleh, this paragraph is horrible. Basically! I feel like I should get these written down somewhere, at the very least? Some of them appear to be of interest, if only to the conspiracy nuts. So. They should all get uploaded over the course of the week, hopefully.
They'll be in General Awfulness for now, but should they become relevant to the RP they'll be moved, hopefully.
-Legal disclaimer: The Doctor Curious Memorial Foundation for Taking Things and Putting Them on the Internet does not condone, convene, discourage, encourage, understand, elaborate upon, ingest, or go skydiving with any viewpoints or concepts expressed in the following material. All typos appearing in the physical documents are preserved, due to possible mystic significance. Documents are presented in no particular order, though fragments appearing related are grouped together.
Folder 1: Misc. Writings unpublished
(Curator's note: Folder is decorated by what appear to be stamped images of smiley faces, some of them in stars, as well as the words "Cascade, lemonade, parade,repaid" and what appear to be mathematical problems.)
***
The Men in Black? Why, bless you, no lad. I've been around for ages and ages before them, righting wrongs, wronging rights, and generally making these worlds more interesting to live in. I knew the High Lama of Leng when the Elder Gods were but young, and he charged me himself to try and keep compalcency under control, though I can't say I've done much of a job of it. There are just too many who prefer to believe the heresies of order to those of disorder, no matter what pranks we may pull to dissuade them. Ah, well I remember the time--I was peddling fish and periwinkles in Worcester as a cover--when I sent for Captain Midnight from Ireladn, and he called the Barbary Apes, and they all came scuttling through the secret ways beneath the land and sea to help me make an exit in my best, confusing manner. The best part of it was getting drunk with Charles Fort years and oceans away, and telling him the true story so that he would disbelieve it...
***
(Curator's note: All the remaining documents in this folder are written on the back of what appear to be forms from a railway, though bereft of identifying markings. All the forms are labelled "Rail shipments for month of __________ 19__", and are divided into four columns labelled "Car No", "Date", "Customers", and "Route". No information has been written on any of these forms.)
One of the problems with orthodox Discordianism today is, curiously, caused by one of our basic strengths. I refer to the essential decentralization of the movement, . Though this is a bastion of our success, it also leads to the annoying problem that there is never another Erisian aroun d when you need him. Thus, there is a lack of ritual in our lives.
Though I do not really believe there is any higher intelligence to cnontact via ceremonies, still there is a positive effect to be experienced. By putting our minds into a mood divorced from our everyday problems of causing a revolution, gettingour hands on dangerous drugs, and so on, we have an opportunity to discover more about ourselves and our fellows. Meditation, ritual or whatever tends to open the mind to feelings of brotherhood, as well as to encourage mystical thoughts and revelations.
Thus, I feel it necessary to propose a meeting, in the flesh, of a large enough number of Discordians to make some rituals worth the effort, not to mention the chance of a party developing. Several sites where we might into the woodwork blend suggest themselves, but it might be difficutl to escape from amental hospital once we had infiltrated it. The alternative is to meet at a science fiction convention or similar gathering of mental defecties...
***
One of the aims of those of us on the left wing of society is (or ought to be) the overthrow of government in general and the attaining of a libertarian society. This is, however, a continuous rather than a discrete two-phase process. Overthrow of the government without prior education of the masses is more likely to lead to a call for a "strong central government" (i.e., a dictator) rather than to a society of liberty.
Thus, one of the primary aims of libertarian discordant must be the education of the masses to the advantages to be gained frm a libertarian society. This work does not necessrilly preclude other advances towards such a society, however, it is an essential part of our job.
In order to maximize the number of our fellows who are in agreement with our platforms, we must make these platforms as general as possible without sacrificing our integrity or principles. In this fashion more of the people will be drawn into partial agreement with us, and more willing to overlook the deviations between our thought and theirs (which are really positions on which they take a "statist" or "soft-core" stance). Once the beneficial aspects of liberty are beginning to appear, the attitudes of our partial supporters should approach ever closer to our own, and thus progress should accelerate once it gets started at all.
To this end, I suggest that infiltration of the various personal freedom groups around the country and the world would be a rewarding activity. There are a number of groups (Neo-pagans, Phone Phreaks, and Lesbian Vegetarians spring to mind, but there must be many others) which would benefit markedly from a relaxation of statist control and greater freedom for individual expression. Many of the members of these groups may be apolitical, or even statist, but by appealing to their urge for freedom it should be possible to instill at least the beginings of libertarian ideals into their minds.
This should be a much quicker way of gaining adherents to our views than mere political (or antipolitcial ) recruiting would be, inasmuch as it becomes possible to address those with a mcuh broader range of interests than has heretofore been possible.
***
If we're really going to talk about a revolution in the United States (and ultimately the entire world), it's time to start assessing the stance of the general population towards the issues involved. As I see it, one way to divide the population is by their attitudes on movement towards a libertarian society, giving us the following seven groups:
1. Active Support: Those Libertarians who are currently doing something to get us on the road to our goals. Those who are not afraid to invest time & money in the Movement at personal risk. A very small group.
2. Passive Support: Memebers of the MLL and other left-wing groups who wholeheartedly support our policies, despite not having doene anything significant to further them. Includes this writer. Includes the vast majority of all anarcho-libertarians, though still a very small proportion of the population.
3. Tacit Support: People who would not try to stand in the way of the Revolution, and who would find themselves agreeing with its goals after a bit of thought. Includes the members of many personal-freedom groups, Newpagans, some Erisians, and the like. I suspect this group must be the source of the majority of new recruits to the movement.
4. Apathy: Thise who really don't care about what system they are living under, and may be discounted by all sides in the struggle. Those with no political consciousness at all. A large group.
5. Tacit Resistance: Those who support the system now, and would continue to do so even at some personal discomfort, but who cannot be expected to be in the front lines. The vast majority of the American taxpayers fall into this group, and will be a problem to the movement, as wrong action on our part is likely to drive them into the arms of the State.
6. Passive Resistance: People who wholeheartedly support the State, but are not really involved with it at the moment. Can be expected to condemn the movement and its goals, and to continue to defend the state with increasing vigor as cracks appear in its facade. Elks, Kiwanis, Rotary club members. Corporate Boards of Directors, and others with a sizeable stake in the current system. Probably hopeless to try and conver t them, except for those few who may be true entrepreneurs rather than just predators.
7. Active Resistance: Office holders, career military men, government scum. Our Enemy, the State.
***
(Curator's note: The following document has handwritten notes in red ink, which are only partially legible. Not due to damage from water, or erasure, or anything; Ukelele apparently just had terrible writing. References are apparently made to LSD, and "Lo!", presumably Charles Fort's book.)
What connectipn is there, we may ask, between the British Isles in the winter of 1904-5 and the American West of the past five to ten years? Actually, one connection, or coincidence, or synchronicity brings up this question in the first place: strange killings and mutilations of sheep in the former locale, and strange killings and mutilations of cattle in the latter.
Perhaps there is some sort of strange predator from Somewhere, which finds it possible to live on the blood (animals are always being found bloodless) of sheep and cattle? Are the conditions correct for its arrival only every sixty or seventy years? Does it come from a moon of Uranus, or is there some other warpage of space which deposits such things on this earth with the requisite frequency?
Whay were there extensive reports of strange, marauding animals being seen in England while no such is seem in the West? Is it because the wide-open spaces of the prairie offer more means for escape, or could it be the same monster, grown more cunning with time? This would also explain the depredations moving from sheep to cattle, as it could be older and larger now. Shall we be on the alert for strange murders of elephants in Africa in the year 2030?
(Curator's note: The "monster" described above seems evocative of the Dunwich Horror, or Robert Anton Wilson's depiction of Yog-Sothoth. But perhaps I grow too fanciful...)
***
The Mad Fishmonger of Worcester, along with his assistants the Apes of Barbary, goes crawling along his network of subterranean tunnels in the wee hours of the morning, to emerge upon the surface of the earth and deposit unlikely evidence of his visitations, from fish to frogs to falling stones. Many instances of this are reported, the most notable of which are documented in Appendix 19.
(Curator's note: Another handwritten note, this time in pencil. "See Lo! p. 63 [illegible] Scandal of Scientology".)
Let us consider the problems caused by weapons of mass destruction. These are perhaps typified by (though not limited to) nuclear explosives of all types. Suppose that such weapons are available, through some free-market means in a libertarian society. What, then, is to keep some unscrupulous criminal from obtaining such a weapon and planting it in a football stadium whose liability insurance is carried by insurance company IC (IA and IB are still arguing about the golf clubs which A avers were stolen by B). At half-time of the big game, the madman calls the president of IC (or whichever of his secretaries will deign to take outside calls), and suggests that ten million dollars and a fast jet be provided forthwith, to forestall the detonation of the bomb.
What is IC to do? Should they ignore the madman, and he sets off the bomb, the number of claims against there company will be staggering. Should they give in to his demands, the cost of ten million must be passed on to their subscriebrs in the form of increased rates, or otherwise absorbed by the market. Besides making their service more expensive than that of their competitors, this will encourage future lunatics to bury future bombs in the hopes of future profits. On the other hand, if they send a SWAT team to eliminate the madman with maximum prejudice, they may discover that he was clever enough to rig a "dead man" switch, and though they will have had the pleasure of not paying him, there will still be the matter of the fatalities at the stadium to take care of.
Perhaps, then, nuclear weapons should not be available in a free society. Who is to keep them from being sold? And where do you draw the lnie? Should high explosive bombs be available? Submachineguns? Switchblade knives?
Besides, what is to be expected if such weapons are not available to the massive libertarian society during the transistion from Phase III to Phase IV? Is it so farfetched to assume that some crusty old general, seeing the entire world about to be taken over by the Godless Anarchists, is liable to push The Button? After all, life as he knows it is about to be eliminated anyhow, so the opposition may as well be wiped out, too. Perhaps, he may reason, Real Civilization will be likely to arise from the cinders left by WWIII, with Truth, Justice and the American Way (as enforced by whatever troops he has left) coming to the forefront where they belong.
They'll be in General Awfulness for now, but should they become relevant to the RP they'll be moved, hopefully.
-Legal disclaimer: The Doctor Curious Memorial Foundation for Taking Things and Putting Them on the Internet does not condone, convene, discourage, encourage, understand, elaborate upon, ingest, or go skydiving with any viewpoints or concepts expressed in the following material. All typos appearing in the physical documents are preserved, due to possible mystic significance. Documents are presented in no particular order, though fragments appearing related are grouped together.
Folder 1: Misc. Writings unpublished
(Curator's note: Folder is decorated by what appear to be stamped images of smiley faces, some of them in stars, as well as the words "Cascade, lemonade, parade,
***
The Men in Black? Why, bless you, no lad. I've been around for ages and ages before them, righting wrongs, wronging rights, and generally making these worlds more interesting to live in. I knew the High Lama of Leng when the Elder Gods were but young, and he charged me himself to try and keep compalcency under control, though I can't say I've done much of a job of it. There are just too many who prefer to believe the heresies of order to those of disorder, no matter what pranks we may pull to dissuade them. Ah, well I remember the time--I was peddling fish and periwinkles in Worcester as a cover--when I sent for Captain Midnight from Ireladn, and he called the Barbary Apes, and they all came scuttling through the secret ways beneath the land and sea to help me make an exit in my best, confusing manner. The best part of it was getting drunk with Charles Fort years and oceans away, and telling him the true story so that he would disbelieve it...
***
(Curator's note: All the remaining documents in this folder are written on the back of what appear to be forms from a railway, though bereft of identifying markings. All the forms are labelled "Rail shipments for month of __________ 19__", and are divided into four columns labelled "Car No", "Date", "Customers", and "Route". No information has been written on any of these forms.)
One of the problems with orthodox Discordianism today is, curiously, caused by one of our basic strengths. I refer to the essential decentralization of the movement, . Though this is a bastion of our success, it also leads to the annoying problem that there is never another Erisian aroun d when you need him. Thus, there is a lack of ritual in our lives.
Though I do not really believe there is any higher intelligence to cnontact via ceremonies, still there is a positive effect to be experienced. By putting our minds into a mood divorced from our everyday problems of causing a revolution, gettingour hands on dangerous drugs, and so on, we have an opportunity to discover more about ourselves and our fellows. Meditation, ritual or whatever tends to open the mind to feelings of brotherhood, as well as to encourage mystical thoughts and revelations.
Thus, I feel it necessary to propose a meeting, in the flesh, of a large enough number of Discordians to make some rituals worth the effort, not to mention the chance of a party developing. Several sites where we might into the woodwork blend suggest themselves, but it might be difficutl to escape from amental hospital once we had infiltrated it. The alternative is to meet at a science fiction convention or similar gathering of mental defecties...
***
One of the aims of those of us on the left wing of society is (or ought to be) the overthrow of government in general and the attaining of a libertarian society. This is, however, a continuous rather than a discrete two-phase process. Overthrow of the government without prior education of the masses is more likely to lead to a call for a "strong central government" (i.e., a dictator) rather than to a society of liberty.
Thus, one of the primary aims of libertarian discordant must be the education of the masses to the advantages to be gained frm a libertarian society. This work does not necessrilly preclude other advances towards such a society, however, it is an essential part of our job.
In order to maximize the number of our fellows who are in agreement with our platforms, we must make these platforms as general as possible without sacrificing our integrity or principles. In this fashion more of the people will be drawn into partial agreement with us, and more willing to overlook the deviations between our thought and theirs (which are really positions on which they take a "statist" or "soft-core" stance). Once the beneficial aspects of liberty are beginning to appear, the attitudes of our partial supporters should approach ever closer to our own, and thus progress should accelerate once it gets started at all.
To this end, I suggest that infiltration of the various personal freedom groups around the country and the world would be a rewarding activity. There are a number of groups (Neo-pagans, Phone Phreaks, and Lesbian Vegetarians spring to mind, but there must be many others) which would benefit markedly from a relaxation of statist control and greater freedom for individual expression. Many of the members of these groups may be apolitical, or even statist, but by appealing to their urge for freedom it should be possible to instill at least the beginings of libertarian ideals into their minds.
This should be a much quicker way of gaining adherents to our views than mere political (or antipolitcial ) recruiting would be, inasmuch as it becomes possible to address those with a mcuh broader range of interests than has heretofore been possible.
***
If we're really going to talk about a revolution in the United States (and ultimately the entire world), it's time to start assessing the stance of the general population towards the issues involved. As I see it, one way to divide the population is by their attitudes on movement towards a libertarian society, giving us the following seven groups:
1. Active Support: Those Libertarians who are currently doing something to get us on the road to our goals. Those who are not afraid to invest time & money in the Movement at personal risk. A very small group.
2. Passive Support: Memebers of the MLL and other left-wing groups who wholeheartedly support our policies, despite not having doene anything significant to further them. Includes this writer. Includes the vast majority of all anarcho-libertarians, though still a very small proportion of the population.
3. Tacit Support: People who would not try to stand in the way of the Revolution, and who would find themselves agreeing with its goals after a bit of thought. Includes the members of many personal-freedom groups, Newpagans, some Erisians, and the like. I suspect this group must be the source of the majority of new recruits to the movement.
4. Apathy: Thise who really don't care about what system they are living under, and may be discounted by all sides in the struggle. Those with no political consciousness at all. A large group.
5. Tacit Resistance: Those who support the system now, and would continue to do so even at some personal discomfort, but who cannot be expected to be in the front lines. The vast majority of the American taxpayers fall into this group, and will be a problem to the movement, as wrong action on our part is likely to drive them into the arms of the State.
6. Passive Resistance: People who wholeheartedly support the State, but are not really involved with it at the moment. Can be expected to condemn the movement and its goals, and to continue to defend the state with increasing vigor as cracks appear in its facade. Elks, Kiwanis, Rotary club members. Corporate Boards of Directors, and others with a sizeable stake in the current system. Probably hopeless to try and conver t them, except for those few who may be true entrepreneurs rather than just predators.
7. Active Resistance: Office holders, career military men, government scum. Our Enemy, the State.
***
(Curator's note: The following document has handwritten notes in red ink, which are only partially legible. Not due to damage from water, or erasure, or anything; Ukelele apparently just had terrible writing. References are apparently made to LSD, and "Lo!", presumably Charles Fort's book.)
What connectipn is there, we may ask, between the British Isles in the winter of 1904-5 and the American West of the past five to ten years? Actually, one connection, or coincidence, or synchronicity brings up this question in the first place: strange killings and mutilations of sheep in the former locale, and strange killings and mutilations of cattle in the latter.
Perhaps there is some sort of strange predator from Somewhere, which finds it possible to live on the blood (animals are always being found bloodless) of sheep and cattle? Are the conditions correct for its arrival only every sixty or seventy years? Does it come from a moon of Uranus, or is there some other warpage of space which deposits such things on this earth with the requisite frequency?
Whay were there extensive reports of strange, marauding animals being seen in England while no such is seem in the West? Is it because the wide-open spaces of the prairie offer more means for escape, or could it be the same monster, grown more cunning with time? This would also explain the depredations moving from sheep to cattle, as it could be older and larger now. Shall we be on the alert for strange murders of elephants in Africa in the year 2030?
(Curator's note: The "monster" described above seems evocative of the Dunwich Horror, or Robert Anton Wilson's depiction of Yog-Sothoth. But perhaps I grow too fanciful...)
***
The Mad Fishmonger of Worcester, along with his assistants the Apes of Barbary, goes crawling along his network of subterranean tunnels in the wee hours of the morning, to emerge upon the surface of the earth and deposit unlikely evidence of his visitations, from fish to frogs to falling stones. Many instances of this are reported, the most notable of which are documented in Appendix 19.
(Curator's note: Another handwritten note, this time in pencil. "See Lo! p. 63 [illegible] Scandal of Scientology".)
Let us consider the problems caused by weapons of mass destruction. These are perhaps typified by (though not limited to) nuclear explosives of all types. Suppose that such weapons are available, through some free-market means in a libertarian society. What, then, is to keep some unscrupulous criminal from obtaining such a weapon and planting it in a football stadium whose liability insurance is carried by insurance company IC (IA and IB are still arguing about the golf clubs which A avers were stolen by B). At half-time of the big game, the madman calls the president of IC (or whichever of his secretaries will deign to take outside calls), and suggests that ten million dollars and a fast jet be provided forthwith, to forestall the detonation of the bomb.
What is IC to do? Should they ignore the madman, and he sets off the bomb, the number of claims against there company will be staggering. Should they give in to his demands, the cost of ten million must be passed on to their subscriebrs in the form of increased rates, or otherwise absorbed by the market. Besides making their service more expensive than that of their competitors, this will encourage future lunatics to bury future bombs in the hopes of future profits. On the other hand, if they send a SWAT team to eliminate the madman with maximum prejudice, they may discover that he was clever enough to rig a "dead man" switch, and though they will have had the pleasure of not paying him, there will still be the matter of the fatalities at the stadium to take care of.
Perhaps, then, nuclear weapons should not be available in a free society. Who is to keep them from being sold? And where do you draw the lnie? Should high explosive bombs be available? Submachineguns? Switchblade knives?
Besides, what is to be expected if such weapons are not available to the massive libertarian society during the transistion from Phase III to Phase IV? Is it so farfetched to assume that some crusty old general, seeing the entire world about to be taken over by the Godless Anarchists, is liable to push The Button? After all, life as he knows it is about to be eliminated anyhow, so the opposition may as well be wiped out, too. Perhaps, he may reason, Real Civilization will be likely to arise from the cinders left by WWIII, with Truth, Justice and the American Way (as enforced by whatever troops he has left) coming to the forefront where they belong.