Organised Nonsense

“The iconoclast proves enough when he proves by his blasphemy that this or that idol is defectively convincing — that at least one visitor to the shrine is left full of doubts. The liberation of the human mind has been best furthered by gay fellows who heaved dead cats into sanctuaries and then went roistering down the highways of the world, proving to all men that doubt, after all, was safe — that the god in the sanctuary was a fraud. One horse-laugh is worth ten thousand syllogisms.”

 — H.L. Mencken

There’s plenty of sniggling that can be done solo, but it’s nice to be able to join together with fellow conspirators for hacks that take a coördinated effort.

Of all of the fraternal lodges, governing bodies, corporate boards, et al., there are some whose devotion to the outskirts of belief and behavior is especially noteworthy or competitive. I’ll list a few here:

There’s Deconstructionists and Surrealists and Anarchists and Soy Bombers and Merry Pranksters and Team 7 and the Center for Tactical Magic and Stealth Force Beta and the Homeland Security Cultural Bureau and Social Art Tactics and Rainbows and Diggers and Public Fiction and ®^TMarks and Provos and the Ruckus Society and Fado and Cacophonists and Subgenii and Scientologists and Clampers and RYT Hospital — Dwayne Medical Center and Otpor and Wobblies and Schizophrenics and Discordians and Yippies and Forteans and Situationists and Lettrists and jam.media.org and Zoöphiles and Latter Day Saints and Dadaists and unabombers and Jedheads and Adbusters and Circlemakers and Rosicrucians and Guerrilla Girls and Pataphysicians and Guerjia Culturale and Decadent Action and The Praxis Group and God Hates Fags and The Coalition to Raise Æsthetic Consciousness and Fluxus and Crass and Negativland and Goy Division and CSICON and Temporary Autonomous Zones and Giant and IdEAL ORDER and Critical Art Ensemble and Survival Research Laboratories and The Canadian Internet Licensing Board and Luddites and Ladies Against Women and The National Pochismo Institute and The North American Man-Boy Love Association and Jack Chick and Christians for the Cloning of Jesus (The Second Coming Project) and The Mollusca Information Center and Clean Surface and The Rensselaer Drop Squad and Arm the Homeless and Cultural Terrorist Agency and Reclaim The Streets! and The Disumbrationist League and The Civil Society Collective and Shut Up & Shop and maybe even the Pacific Novelty Company and the Beaver County Militia.