Discordian Quote Comix: Quote 00052

This is the last episode of Discordian Quote Comix so as an exclamation point I decided to feature Eris herself. I decided to end the series with the original Discordian quote, brought on by the Original Snub, the words that kicked off the whole blessed thing. In a wonderful bit of Discordian synchronicity today is 5/23. DQC began as a personal training exercise a year ago, vowing to do a panel a week for one year, in an effort to improve my art, work on a schedule, and eventually work toward more narrative comics.

I learned quite a bit on this project, mainly that my art will always be a work in progress. I also learned that setting goals is a good way to produce, that having a publishing schedule that needs to be met will assure that things get done. One nice side effect of DQC was the launching of SPOILED! a weekly gag strip at Major Spoilers, that spun out of my Bistrips-based Major Spoilers Adventures. I now literally have a new project on the drawing board, and I'll say more about that when the time is right.

Pop Culture and Predictive Programming: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

Today I stumbled across this clip from an old G.I. Joe cartoon:





and was amused by it's odd criticism of paper currency, and the economic themes present, especially for a children's program.  Now G.I. Joe was certainly a jingoistic/militaristic show in Reagan's decade of the 80's, but I never really considered the themes explored to be out of the ordinary until I stumbled across this article that looks at several weird plots by Cobra (the Joe's main bad guys):

How the Animated Series G.I. Joe Predicted Today’s Illuminati Agenda

This article introduced me to the notion of 'Predictive Programming' which is:

a technique based on planting ideas and concepts in the brains of viewers in order to make them seem normal and easily accepted when they actually happen

Interesting.  I Googled the term and was immediately dragged down Alice's rabbit hole into a conspiracy Wonderland.

The idea is that Predictive Programming has been inserted into television, movies and music videos, sometimes decades in advance, to prepare we, the people, for the ultimate results of the Illuminati's dire plots.  Here is another article concerning predictive programming, and YouTube is littered with video examples from all sorts of sources.

For example, during the Pro Wrestling boom of the 1980s Hulk Hogan and the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage united as a tag-team named the Mega Powers.  For a high profile match they were set to battle an evil tag-team comprised of The Big Boss Man and Hakeem the African Dream. The name of that tag team? The Twin Towers.  Now in fine wrestling tradition lots of interviews were given by the Mega Powers about how they were going to 'bring down' the Twin Towers, how the Towers would be 'demolished,' and how the Twin Towers team had committed a 'terrorist attack' on Savage and his lovely associate Miss Elizabeth.  Even stranger, Hogan and Savage would later join another wrestling stable, this time in the 1990s, called the New World Order.  The term 'New World Order' is a favorite of conspiracy theorists and researchers. It is used frequently in 9-11 conspiracy theories concerning that event being carried out, not by Islamic terrorists, but by Illuminized elites. Here's a video hitting the high points:

I will admit it's weird when it's all put together like that, but the context of history can make all sorts connections and coincidences into seeming conspiracies especially when you go looking for them. I'm a big fan of conspiracy theories, and I find them a window into an alternate reality (a Wonderland, if you will) that can make you wonder what the hell is really going on.

Do I believe that the Illuminati conspired to destroy the WTC and announced it via the WWF in the mid 80s or that G.I. Joe was predicting hordes of mind controlled celebrities?  Not really, but it's entertaining to take a trip down the rabbit hole and visit Wonderland once in a while. And it'll probably have me looking at my favorite TV shows from a different perspective for a few weeks.

Page 100 Project: Illuminatus!

Canadian cartoonist Jason Turner invented the Page 100 Project, where one adapts page 100 from a novel into comics form.  I thought this sounded like a fun idea, and used Bitstrips to adapt page 100 from Illuminatus!, by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson:

Miscellaneous Debris: Part 9

The Cleveland Okie has a nice post with an interview of Mike Shea, the son of Illuminatus! co-author Robert Shea. The interview mentions the eight appendices reported to have been removed from the original appendices of Illuminatus!, as well as the book 'Bride of Illuminatus' which was an unfinished sequel to the original to be co-written by Shea and Wilson. Oh what might have been. . .

Speaking of Illuminatus! the always cool blog, Damn Interesting, has a nice post on the Assassins.

Via Reason Magazine's Hit and Run Blog:

Will Stephen Colbert's Presidential exploration poach Ron Paul supporters?

And Radley Balko warns that Hillary Clinton may be the best option for Republicans looking to continue the foreign policy of George W. Bush.