A wild double-bluff religion that arose from the memetically hot swamps of UFO cults, 50's kitsch, Aleister Crowley, Discordianism, Robert Anton Wilson, est and various other self-help groups, designer religions, and living myths. The biggest joke about the church is that it's no joke at all.
The SubGenii are a bunch of true-believers who delight in labeling non-SubGenii as head-in-the-sand "Pinks" or Archie Bunkeresque "Glorps," both groups being unwitting dupes of a grand Conspiracy designed to yoke humankind to ignorance and soul-sucking desk jobs. SubGenii claim that they are not pure humans, but that the blood of superior Yetis flows in their veins. SubGenii seek slack, a hard-to- describe substance/state-of-mind that allows them to escape the grasp of the cold hard pincers of the Conspiracy.
The late (and fictional) J.R. "Bob" Dobbs, founder of the church, was an extremely successful door-to-door salesman who began hearing voices from space aliens. He applied his skills to developing and selling a new religion based on what the voices told him.
The SubGenius mythos is deep and complicated. As predicted in the SubG scripture-zine, "The Stark Fist of Removal," the church would one day be overrun by blank-eyed "Bobbies" who mindlessly spout SubGenius quotes and turn the whole thing into dogma. Has this already happened? Many former high-ranking members of the Church have gotten what they could from it, and have moved on to explore other spiritual paths. "Bob" would probably have wanted it that way.
(M. Frauenfelder)
Links:
Glossary:
ACCESS:
The SubGenius Foundation
PO Box 140306
Dallas TX 75214
(Introductory information is available for $1)
