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Feature: Goth and Christianity |
Posted by
Devin on Friday, July 12, 2002 - 04:09 AM PST
Anyone who's spent a reasonable ammount of time snooping the net knows that Jesus was gother than you. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. It occurred to me last nite that goth and christianity are basically the same thing. Follow me here.
There are billions of kinds of people in the world, but for the purposes of this article, there are only 2. Those that are smart and lucid enuf to have a clear view of the world, and those that are stupid. It's always been this way. Some people can see that the world consists of us, others, our surroundings, and something else. And some people can't see that.
One quality of humans which seems icky, but must somehow be good if we've evolved this way, is that we all like to find "our people". So with this theory, I'm saying that the lucid ones want to find the other lucid ones to identify with and have some reasonable company and reassurance that they're not the only ones who can see things this way. They want people to discuss their ideas with who can actually understand them - the ideas themselves are irrelavant. The problem is that the stupid ones all think they're the lucid ones too, and want to be part of that club. They're just not seeing clearly enuf to realize that they're not.
Christianity started out with some idealists talking about how things should be. The ideas themselves are not relivant to this discussion. I wasn't there, but my guess would be that they were thinking clearly, and wanting to be around others who could see what they could see, and think on their level. These people must have looked pretty fucking cool to the millions of confused idiots running around at that time. Coolness attracts idiocy. So eventually this group of people was swarmed by idiots, and every idealistic thing they thought up got twisted and corrupted by somebody who thought they were one of the lucid ones, but they weren't.
Groups of Goths work the same way. Sure, mall goths congregate too - but the solid groups that attract others all start with the lucid ones. These are the people that need community the most. The Stupids can find community easier because they're not as picky. They have a lot more people to chose from. But the ones that can't put up with the stupids have a harder time, and bond more with the other ones they do find. These people, of course, look immensely cool to the stupids, who congregate around and try and immitate them.
So when it comes down to it, christianity and goth are basically a small group of people gathered together around lucid thought, and surrounded by tons of idiots who think they're part of the club. When you look at either group, you can't see the people at the center - just the surrounding idiots. The idiots all have their own distortions of the meaning of everything, and all think they represent the whole. Since the cool ones know they're the cool ones, and the stupid ones THINK they're the cool ones, The only way to tell which one you are is to identify who are the visionaries and see what they think of you. Unfortunately for christians, most of theirs are dead. But if you think you're a goth, there's a chance you can find out for sure... if you're clever...
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Goth and Christianity | Login/Create an account | 14 Comments |
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Re: Goth and Christianity
by Schizo on Jul 12, 2002 - 05:17 AM
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Devin, you're too smart! I think you've hit the nail right on the head.
It's true, isn't it? All the stupid people think they're geniuses. Unfortunately, the stupid people outnumber the intelligent ones in this world, and since everything seems to happen by majority vote, guess who ends up in charge!
Fortunately for goth, there are no positions of leadership, unlike Christianity, where stupid people in high places make things miserable for those with brains every single day.
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Re: Goth and Christianity
by VampCourt (Morbidchic@hotmail.com)
on Jul 12, 2002 - 10:35 AM
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I had a theory close to that awhile ago but not the cristianity part. but the real and the fake wanting to be real. Back when i used to go to haven alot (my old hangout goth place) there was alot of people that attended. I could actually sit back and see who really was and wasnt. and usually the people that were "goth" were actually much more comfortable around the other people and relaxed in the environment.. where as alot of the people that were there to be dressed in black to fit in.. you could tell thats really all they were..somebody in black.. wanting to get it.. but they just couldnt. I feel sorry for them because they really want to be part of that scene without sticking out.
example.. girl walks by with long black lacy dress.. laughing and having a good time..admiring others clothing and being herself.. whereas.. a timid girl standing in the corner with messy black lipstick and a slipknot t-shirt on. But then again.. maybe im just being way to judgemental...
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Re: Re: Goth and Christianity by Celria on Jul 12, 2002 - 10:39 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://http:// | I honestly don't know what I am. I'm new at "being" goth. I can say i think i've been goth all along but havn't expressed it but anyway i'm rambling. I can be both the timid girl in the corner and the girl in the black lacy dress. it depends who I am around at the time. in front of my mother i'm timid because she hates goths and i don't know how to react around her. i'd be the first to admit i'm probrably a fake goth after all i havn't been goth for long and have had no-one to teach me how ( i live on a teeny tiny mountain and there are no goths there) but it suprises me how much I acted like a goth when i didn't know how goths acted. damn I'm rambling again. I do agree that the relaxed goth is more real. when I started to "become" goth my friends did too and it's easy to tell who's doing it for the look. with the boys the ones who are faking look hopefully at the others and at me who they seem to think i'm their leader or something. they try to act "dark" without suceeding because they don't know what they are doing. the girls are similar but I can actually say i know one of the timid girls. she's doing it because she thinks we will accept her more and hell maybe we will. but the one's I consider "real" are relaxed, comfortable they don't ask anyone how to "be" goth they just be. they joke more then the fake's because fakes seem to think goths have no humor....... *sigh* well I can tell when others are faking but i don't know if I myself am. I think I am but i'm gonna ask. if there's any high up goths reading this. who are you? and what are your opinions on my comments? |
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Re: Re: Re: Goth and Christianity by Devin (devin-at-vibechild-dot-com) on Jul 12, 2002 - 11:57 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://devin.vibechild.com/ | You sound young. And you sound like you didn't quite understand what you read. You don't sound quite as cliche' and idiotic as most of the people who try and say what you just said (lots of people say all those things, so it's still a bit cliche'). The part that makes me think you don't get it is that you apparently think there's some kind of goth heirarchy (by saying "high up goths"). What I was saying in the article, and what you can see if you look around, is that there's only 2 kinds of goths. Visionary goths, and followers (who think they're visionary goths). There's none higher up than the others, although human nature is naturally going to create a pecking order.
Asking that question is a bad idea though. None of the lucid goths are going to answer when you're addressing "higher up goths" - and the posers with ego's will be all over it thinking you need to hear their opinion. I wouldn't have answered myself except that I wrote the article so you were kind of addressing me anyway. But also because I don't want to read some ego-punk claiming to speak for all of us. Even though the irony of that under this particular article would be amusing.
My unprofessional opinion is that if you're really young, there might be hope - but if you're older, you should give it up. Maybe grow some dreadlocks and buy some birkenstocks - there's acceptance to be found there as well. To really get the answer to that question, you need to do a lot more watching, and a lot less asking. |
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Re: Re: Re: Re: Goth and Christianity by Celria on Jul 26, 2002 - 01:29 AM (User info | Send a Message) http://http:// | by young do you mean 15? because thats how old i am. i didn't mean high up goths litarally i meant visionary goths. thanks for replying though. i guess i will have to do more watching but if it helps that was the first time i asked
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Re: Re: Re: Goth and Christianity by ravinsaend on Jul 13, 2002 - 03:10 AM (User info | Send a Message) http:// | Normally I don't bother saying anything to these type of questions, but I don't like to see people confused about who they are, and from what you wrote, it appears, to me at least, that you are.
The secret of life is rather simple realy, at least in my eyes. Watch, listen, and learn. If you want to know something of the sort, that is the way to go about it. People tend to give VERY opinionated answers to questions like that, so it's extremely rare that you'll get an answer truly worth having. Don't let someone else tell you who to be. Be you.
And screw anybody that tels you differently. However, if you're young, as your post leads me to believe, don't annoy the so-called "big"people too much. you can do that plenty after you've established yourself well enough to get away with it. There IS a difference between compromise and allowing someone to tell you who and how to be. |
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Re: Goth and Christianity
by IamSquid (AAA@sockmonkeys.net)
on Jul 12, 2002 - 11:25 AM
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Seeing as I am Jesus (which I suppose makes mee by this rationale the Gothic Messiah, although if anything I'm really more of a Rivet...) I would like to formally apologize for every Mansonite, hardcore Masquerader, and dorksider that has ever picked-up a paperback Necronomicon. I hope yoo can find it in yor heart to forgive mee, PLEASE DON'T CRUCIFY MEE!!!
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Re: Re: Goth and Christianity by Xaoswolf (Xaoswolf@hotmail.com) on Jul 12, 2002 - 12:34 PM (User info | Send a Message) http://Xaoswolf.tripod.com | You're forgiven, besides, if we wanted to crucify you, we'd have to build a ten pointed crucifix to get all of your tentacles, and well, I'm really too lazy to do that. |
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Theo...strike that, Demonology...
by Dolorosa on Jul 12, 2002 - 05:43 PM
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Word...I like your idea Devin, personally, I've bumped something a little like it in my head, but never codified it. For some reason though, it does just "fit". Good work.
I guess you can say we even have our Prophets then...
One of the things I've always thought about religion in general is that it was based more out of a need for community than anything else...
And hear we are with our own sort of Communion...
Sup from the cup of shmeng, and spew they sins upon the keyboard yah?
I love stuff like this.
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Re: Theo...strike that, Demonology... by Monolycus on Jul 13, 2002 - 10:07 PM (User info | Send a Message) | I might have mentioned this before (can't recall), but the sociologist Emile Durkheim proposed that religion was nothing more than the apotheosis of the culture that produces it. That is to say, "gods" are nothing more than the personification of the society that worships them. I'm not sure I agree entirely, but it makes for a great mental masturbation session to contemplate it. |
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Of Monkeys and Men
by Monolycus on Jul 13, 2002 - 10:00 PM
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I've bumped very similar ideas around myself and I think there may be a lot to be said for your observation, Devin. The tentative conclusion I have come to is that the herding instinct (The tendency for the less creative or intellectual to attach themselves to visionaries or free-thinkers) comes to us from whole cloth as a direct result of our primate heritage. We see in just about any troop of social non-human primate (this does not seem to hold true for orangutans who are essentially solitary, but works very well with chimpanzees, bonobos and Japanese macaques) that "weaker" members can gain status very quickly and easily by forming coalitions with members who are closer to the top of the heirarchy. Thus, it has become instinctive for the stupid human (or chimpanzee, bonobo, Japanese macaque, et cetera) to realise that thinking/acting for itself is futile, but it expends no mental or physical effort to enjoy the benefits of sucking up to the alphas. From this perspective, nature actually favours the inept in a social group, since they risk nothing nor do they have to produce anything. They never get to the "top", per se, but they can get much closer by their associations than they could have dreamed of getting on their own merits.
How does this affect the question at hand? Well... it seems to be a deeply nurtured instinct for humans (viz. social primates) to recognise "status". It also seems to be a deeply nurtured instinct for inept humans to attach themselves to successful humans for the survival value it confers upon them. Since the conferred "status" that the ass-kissers receive is as real as any other status, it does not dawn on them that they are truly bland and stupid. Therefore, over time, any small group that began as truly visionary, unique or interesting will become diluted by the oblivious persons attaching themselves to it. The larger the group or the longer it has been in existence (without exclusionary measures to weed out the stupid), the more bland and uninspired it will become as a whole.
On the plus side, there might be a benefit in all of this for the creative and inspired people. By recognising that these coalitions exist (and have to exist for the stupid to survive), the visionary can use the human barnacles that attach themselves as a buffer between him or herself and the unpleasantness that will occur when two unlike groups meet (generally, this involves conflict). In other words, the stupid tend to dilute creative social interactions, but they make great cannon fodder. One has to weigh the potential benefit of this situation before they clear the great unwashed from the temple.
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Re: Goth and Christianity
by bettie_x (strangersangel@hotmail.com)
on Jul 13, 2002 - 10:50 PM
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Dev that's fucking genious. As genious as C's "history of goth".
I wish I had time to think things like this over once and a while, but most of my time is consumed with figuring out where the fuck all my socks are and if I really mean it when I say I'm "quitting" smoking.
I dub you officially graduated far past monkey with table manners :) As for me I'm going to dig for socks and ease a compulsion to try to pick through someone's hair without getting my ass kicked.
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Re: Goth and Christianity
by Anya (Enternamehere@enterhosthere.net)
on Mar 12, 2003 - 09:46 PM
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Brilliant story you got here. :)
Yeah, I know how the "stupid" people tend to go, "Ahhh that person looks awesome - let's be like them so we can be cool too!"
I wont say that I was attracted to certain things, but I don't do anything to be cool - I do things for I like it, not to please others or because I think it's cool. Heck, feck those who spit on me. ;)
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