Staring into the AbyssOver 20 years ago Steve Jackson Games put out an amusing little game called Illuminati. The details of the game aren't important (but it's nice and fun, and if you've never played, shame on you) -- but it involves secret and not-so secret political factions controlling or destroying each other. Each faction was described by several attributes, such as "Liberal" or "Criminal". Now, to make the dynamics of the game interesting, each attribute had an natural opposite -- weird vs straight, violent vs peaceful, etc... One of the clever little touches Steve Jackson added was that "Fanatic" factions were always natural opposites of any other "Fanatic" factions.As a geeky punk teenager this seemed "mythologicly" logical and amusing. And sure, it still seems so today... but there's more to it, in a dreadful sort of sub-text. I was out tooling around the internet today, doing my due diligence as a websurfer (1) and I ran across Operation Clambake -- the rabid anti-Scientologist web-site. Being that I'd been some time since I ran across all the Scientologist mythos and background material, I thought I'd spend some time re-aquainting myself with it. But in the course of reading over the Clambake site, I got a little wary of the Clambake people themselves. Now, don't get me wrong, I've had a deep seated hatred for the Scientologists for a long time. And anyone that's willing to stand their ground and point at evil will get a tip of the hat from me. ... but damn if these Clambake people haven't driven off the deep end of the pier in their pursuit of their foes. No, really, check out the site. Sure, you're first impression is that Scientologists are evil from the word go... but you also have to step back from all the foam that gathers on the clambakers lips -- I mean, parts of their site is just unintelligible with all the ranting and exposition. In the end I have to ask if the Clambaker's zealoty madness is indirectly a result of their foes. I mean, you've got these Scientologists that are just seeping in craziness. They've got a mythos that's popped Athena-like from some Kuru fermented frontal lobe, and they practice legal strong-arm tactics that make The Mouse (2) seem kindly by comparison. Merely trying to describe the antics of their foes would cause the Clambake people to blow a gasket, and who could measure the sanity damage of trying to continuously block every legal (and non-legal) tactic that gets thrown at them? Heck, I shouldn't be comparing to Illuminati, I should be comparing to Call of Cthulhu. It's been said by better people than I that the best measure of man is by the strength of his enemy. And damn, if you're going to fight raving gibbering loonies, they're going to have to get a bent measuring stick to judge you by. Honestly, if you want to fight the good fight, sure, find an evil and fight tooth and nail. But if you chose someone like the Scientologists, you're going to have to fight only because you know it's the right fight; because those who don't know any better will just think that you're as far gone as your enemy.
i,jasona
1) Which hasn't seemed to have increased or decreased
any with my being layed off... a fact that I should investigate in
some later column, if the results don't disturb me too much. |