no, i am NOT a discordian in disguise: this forum is an ignored warning to the world: some day, though it is not my wish, i will be forced to say I TOLD YOU SO!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

The Problem With "Thinking For Yourself"

The Discordian sect likes to define itself around the tenet "Think For Yourself", although that may surpise you if your only exposure to the insidious group is via the comments they graffitti this blog with on a regular basis, and without pondering the idea too much it probably seems like an attractive possibility, but in truth it is against the benefit of your entire society to do so.

The idea of thinking for yourself is the root base of the psychopath's mindset: someone who thinks only for and of themself, worrying not at all about his fellow man. I'm not saying that all Discordians are psychopaths, but I would assume a large segment of them are . . . the rest are most likely sociopaths.

We are a society based on democracy, which means that we are a people who have decided to put people into power who are smart enough and self-sacrificing enough to do the thinking of an entire population for them. This is no easy feat, as anyone who has run for even local offices can attest. The very idea of going through the trouble to pick a candidate, vote for them, and set them up in office only to completely ignore their decisions is tantamount to treason. The majority of Discordians are high school drop-outs who suckle on the teets of the our country, and somehow THEY are the bastions of pure thought? When was the last time you read about anyone in a position of power or authority being a "discordian"? NEVER. These people go NOWHERE. So why would anyone listen to them? The simple answer is that most people don't, however, the youth of today just dying for the next weird and trendy pop idea are sitting ducks for this sort of madness.

If we allow the youth to think for themselves we would soon have a country composed of 100 million small countries. WE ARE NOT A PEOPLE IF WE ARE ALL IN IT FOR OURSELVES. End of Discussion.

Of course, I probably shouldn't worry too much, since the Discordians aren't doing much thinking for themselves anyway . . . they adopt a system of thought based around original ideas, then copy the ideas set out for them word for word, idea for idea. A perfect example of this is an earlier post where I mentioned the Discordian Days Of The Week being named for the Seven Deadly Sins . . . some thoughtful Discordian decided to enlighten me by explaining that the Discordians have FIVE days in a week. Besides the utterly obvious idiocy of trying to explain how days work on the rising and setting of the SUN, its interesting to note that I found the Seven Deadly Sins fact on a Discordian blog . . . but apprently if most Discordians say its five, its FIVE, dammit. Shut up about it, and stop 'thinking for yourself'. If Robert Anton Wilson and Kerry Thornley tell you it's five days a week, it's FIVE. Same goes for the names of the seasons, or months, or whathaveyou. The idea that any of these Discordians think for themselves is, frankly, a laughable idea. Hell, if they thought for themselves they wouldn't even worship Discordia, they would make up their own deity, but NOOOOOOO.

So, this is a note to any Discordians thinking about responding to this post: THINK VERY HARD ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO POST BEFORE YOU POST IT, AND WONDER TO YOURSELF IF THE THOUGHT IS REALLY YOURS, OR DID YOU LIFT IT FROM SOMEWHERE?

14 comments:

Rev. What's-His-Name? said...

You blew it in the second paragraph.

You do realize that "Thinking for Yourself" is not the same thing as "Thinking only of Yourself and no one else.", right?

One doesn't need to be mindless to be charitable. One doesn't need to follow predetermined will and group-thought, to be a contributory citizen of the world.

Don't you think that the soldier who thinks for himself, and doesn't engage in waterboarding is more thoughtful of other people than the 20 other soldiers, who think like they are told to think and do?

Central Scrutinizer said...

You fail.

Rev. What's-His-Name? said...

I'll take that as a yes, then.

Central Scrutinizer said...

Take it any way you want, you still fail.

It boggles my mind that you actually believe what you are typing.

You think its ok in the middle of a battlefield to suddenly change your mind, decide you don't like whats going on, and start doing whatever you feel like? When hundreds, if not thousands, of people are basing their plans around you being an integral spoke on their wheel? Do you realize that probably 50% of the soldiers being killed over in Iraq are being killed by their own people, thinking like you?

FAIL. FAIL. FAIL.

Rev. What's-His-Name? said...

Geez, can't you focus on your own scenario? Opinions about the war not-withstanding, the point of my example was to point out that one can think for themself and think of others at the same time.

Fine how about this one instead:

The person who stops and assists someone broken down on the side of the road, as opposed to the multitudes of other motorists who are preprogrammed to keep on driving.

That one work better for you?

Central Scrutinizer said...

That's not the same thing.

Altruism is not about thinking for yourself, it is about thinking what is best for everyone. Besides, do you really believe the average person is smart enough to think for themself?

Rev. What's-His-Name? said...

I disagree, I think altruism CAN be about thinking for yourself, if you have been taught by society that altruism is a detriment to you personally or to people around you. In other words being a do-gooder isn't going to get you anywhere so don't bother. At the same time, altruism, CAN also be preprogrammed by society and your environment. Altruism is a behavior and linked to personality traits and will be affected by different experiences.

Do I think the average person is smart enough to think for themself?

I don't think it's a matter of smart or not smart. I think it's a matter of recognition and being in tune to your environment. For some, it may not even be a thought, they may assume that everything they do is solely of their own volition, with no outside influences. I'm not sure if that's not being smart as it is not being in tune.

But, I DO sometimes suspect that the average person is not willing to think beyond the here and now, and what's on the surface. To not even contemplate penetrating the wall that separates the 10% of their mind that they use on a daily basis. They're the sort of people who think we're wasting money by going into space, exploring the oceans, etc.

Central Scrutinizer said...

You have a point.

Rev. What's-His-Name? said...

I please to aim.

Anonymous said...

Central Scrutinizer, you make simple assumptions about the nature of things and close your mind to all other possibilities. You are an idiot, a buffoon, and a Discordian in the truest sense. Your definition of thinking for yourself could entirely be out of context. "Think for Yourself", in your terms, means that You are only thinking in terms of self-empowerment and self-benefit, in terms of egotistic narcissism. However, the commonly held definition is in terms of deciding for yourself on what is true and what is false, accordingly. As in, don't let others decide what you believe for you (or think for you). Whereas, in Discordianism, you decide (or think) for yourself...I'm sure if you still don't get it, anyone else on the planet could explain it to you...

Anonymous said...

*fart*

Anonymous said...

To be honest with you, I thought all RAW was trying to get at was that this whole argument is completely moot anyway and all our philosophy is a pile of steaming dog turd since all our perceptions are different from each other due to us occupying different points in space and time. Therefore every thought could be considered truly original :)

I could always be completely wrong of course ^.^

obsidian said...

Through infinite synchronistic meshing of the self replicating multidimensional universe epochs eternally reemerge, with a twist and a new xyz coordinate. That that is above is below. Are you recycled rather than exponential?

Red, blue, gyhm, gim,o,|__|?

Anonymous said...

You're a whole lot like Hitler. You're elitist, nationalist, totally against free thought, opposed to freedom of the individual, in favor of controlling the masses, I could go on but I feel like I'm rambling. And I have a short attention span. HAIL SATAN ;)