Freeze-dried like a new religion. . .

[digitaldiscipline]

[inspired by a question asked by gavinsca]

Are the world's religious text all merely obsolete instruction manuals, mean to guide children through the forest but outtasked by the problems facing people today?

They're all overblown rationalizations for justifying entrenched power structures. Really, all anyone needs is a distillation of the golden rule:

Don't be an asshat.

I mean, really - you don't need parables, or gospel, or to make an exact copy of the Torah in long-grain rice. . . you just need not be a dick to the next guy. It covers all the Commandments, other than the one that has no bearing on Life In General, the paranoid mutterings of an insecure deity ["have no gods before me" - and, if you believe in the deity in question, not being an asshat to them means doing this anyways, wouldn't it?]

Antiasshatism means starting no holy wars, no persecution, none of the lovely stuff that we get from the established spiritual structures that are so hell-bent on telling each other to go fuck themselves.

Inconveniently, there's already something similar to Antiasshatism in circulation, and it's gotten a bad rap because the idea man went after the wrong kind of PR. . . "So long as it harm none, do as thou wilt."

"Don't be an asshat. Amen."

Comments

[the-macross.livejournal.com]

Rafe and the toa of non rectal habadashery.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

"tao" & "haberdashery," even.

;-)

we might be onto something here, though i can't seem to get around the visual of Piglet in timly's hat hollering "Dammit, I don't want the Tao of Poo!"

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

no <3 <-asshat icon

if only everyone believed as you believe.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

is it an asshat, or a heart?

B:-|

this bears ascii attention

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

it's supposed to be a heart, but i like the "asshat" interpretation!

anyway, you can make a heart like this: ♥

but there's no asshat entity! a serious omission!

[the-macross.livejournal.com]

yeah what you wrote.

spelling is not something I do well when I first wake up.

[milktongue.livejournal.com]

Bravo! :)

Yes & No

[bynner.livejournal.com]

Alas, "As thou wilt, an harm none," is an insufficient philosophy for the governance of human civilization. The same with the "Golden Rule."
Values and behaviors derive from base assumptions, themselves derived from interpretations (nay, convictions!) about the meaning of words and the organization of inner-monologue-logic.

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," fails immediately, because I assert my right to judge others and deny their right to judge me (that's a *vast* oversimplification, but whatever).
Likewise... what if "As I wilt," includes harming others? Which it will... I routinely oppress child molesters, thieves, religious nuts, and idiots.

But anyhoo...

Re: Yes & No

[etcet.livejournal.com]

I routinely oppress child molesters, thieves, religious nuts, and idiots

The first three have already been asshats by choice, and have forsaken their right to decry the swift knee to the groin of justice.

Idiots just get duct-taped together.

[lil-m-moses.livejournal.com]

actually, i think you want the hat on the outside of the cheeks, not the inside. 3> (and you can even add a festive pompom! 3>* )

[geekers.livejournal.com]

"Dammit, I don't want the Tao of Poo!"
Hee!

[inlaterdays.livejournal.com]

even better :D

[anngwish42.livejournal.com]

I love you. I can't even think of anything to add to your thoughts right now. I just totally love you for summing it up so perfectly.