Sometimes, the Principia Discordia contains useful ideas disguised as nonsense.
Other times, as in the Law of Fives, the Principia serves up a big honkin'
warning disguised as nonsense. Concepts like the newly revised and expanded
table of creation / destruction / order / disorder are things that
may be worth thinking about, but the Law of Fives points out the sorts of thoughts
that are dangerous to keep around.Take a moment to go back and review what the Principia has to say about the Law
of Fives. Or just take my word for it; whatever. The scary and dangerous
part about the Law of Fives is its implied philosophy of "you start
out convinced this is true, and if you aren't seeing its truth in every single
situation, then you simply aren't trying hard enough". I remember my
early days on this board, reading a thread where people posted random
numbers and challenged others to relate them back to 5. That was
occasionally some seriously creative shit. And it scared me to see people so
willing to go to such great and contorted lengths for a bullshit mathematical
exercise.Harvey Mackay is quoted as saying "Optimists are right. So are pessimists." The
Law of Fives takes many forms outside the PD - racism, sexism, homophobia,
rabid Bible-thumping, and I'm sure you can think of others. And everywhere
you look, you will see people in helpless obedience to the Law,
screeching their ridiculous beliefs to anyone who will listen, and countering
reasonable argument with nothing but more of the same screeching. If you
aren't seeing the unmistakable truth in what they have to say, then you
SIMPLY AREN'T TRYING HARD ENOUGH!DISCLAIMER: It can occasionally be difficult to distinguish between people obeying
the Law of Fives, and people being dicks for their own amusement.
This document is not intended to assist in such an endeavor, and the author
disclaims all liability for any damages of any sort resulting from failure to
make the aforementioned distinction. Because she's being a dick for her own amusement.