Pastafarianism

[oxfordtweed]

People don't... they don't actually subscribe to this, do they? The impression I always got from it was to point out the absurdity of Scientology some of these "fringe" religions; in the same spirit of the Invisible Pink Unicorn and Russell's Teapot.

I ask, because I've just come across someone claiming to follow this religion, and they seemed to be sincere about it. Granted, she's only still in high school, and maybe she missed the point? I'm just a little baffled right now, and had no idea that people actually took it seriously in a totally un-ironic way.


ETA: Maybe I'm just really sleep deprived, but Joey and Mr Blue in my icons both look absolutely shocked at this post. It's cracking me up.

I need to get some sleep, I think.

Comments

[yakalskovich]

You can't invent anything silly enough so some people won't start taking it seriously.-

In a good parody, people sometimes don't realise it is a parody. But in that Wiki article, it falls squarely into the first category of 'everybody knows it is a joke'.

I know that long, long ago, I knew a serious Discordian online. But she was completely round the bend in several other ways as well.-

[mr-x-indeed.livejournal.com]

I'm just baffled that people take this stuff seriously. I mean, I heard about the split in the FSM "religion," where there's also a "reformed church" or something, but that's also part of the joke.


I can't believe some of the things people fall for.

[yakalskovich]

To quote from the Wiki article I linked there:

Several religions that are classified as parody religions have a number of relatively serious followers who embrace the perceived absurdity of these religions as spiritually significant, a decidedly post-modern approach to religion[citation needed]. For instance, in Discordianism, it may be hard to tell if even these "serious" followers are not just taking part in an even bigger joke. This joke, in turn, may be part of a greater path to enlightenment, and so on ad infinitum.

If we give that person you met the benefit of the doubt, then we can assume that is what she is doing. On the other hand, it is hot where you are, and the heat drives some people quite batty. So that might be the reason she seriously takes it seriously...

[mr-x-indeed.livejournal.com]

Oh, I totally will cop to being way too involved in H2G2 lore. Occasionally, I will swear to Zarquon, and the like. But I could never bring myself to actually take any of it too seriously.

I don't know. I just don't understand people, I guess.

[yakalskovich]

Nobody is required to understand crazy people. It'll just make your brain itch. I don't even try to understand why intelligent people fall for extreme forms of Christianity (have known a sad case of that) or Scientology (never known anyone, luckily).-

[mr-x-indeed.livejournal.com]

I know somebody who fell for Scientology. I had no idea how to respond to that, and just sort of stopped talking to them.

[yakalskovich]

When that friend of mine became a fundamentalist Christian, I was rather bereaved and pissed-off at the same time. People didn't quite understand my reaction, but really, I had just lost one of my best friends! No more hours and hours of discussion, no more crazy spontaneous projects -- there was just no way we could still be on the same level, as he'd sort of flushed the contents of his mind (which I had liked!) down the drain and replaced it with gibberings about Jesus. I stopped talking to him for several years, too, and never talked to him at the level we used to have, later.

[stroopfaced.livejournal.com]

I think it's a way of saying "I'm an athiest, but mostly I just think the whole thing is ridiculouse so lets have a laugh instead. Pirates are fun, yeah?"

I don't think anyone literally believes in the FSM but people can be heavily into it as a way of just avoiding the whole issue.

[mr-x-indeed.livejournal.com]

I'm hoping that's what this person was doing. But you never know with some people.

[merrymatryoshka.livejournal.com]

Maybe she's just a very pious bullshitter?

I've convinced people I'm a devout follower of Raptor Jesus via my "sincerity". Juts for lulz of course.

I don't think anyone really really believes in the FSM. Then again, I suppose I shouldn't say never. There's a whole host of "reputable" people who believe in Xenu.