Sunday

Ask Ty...January 10 [The Fraternal Order Question] - UPDATED

It must be Tuesday Sunday, Middlespace Cadets, because I'm answering your questions
Q: Dear Ty, Possibly the Kingdom of Leisure can take the place of the venerable Masons now that their mystery is gone [link]? -RR
Ty: Good question and an even better observation, RR. Sneaky little question too. I love how direct yet vague you pose the query, RR. Nicely played. Very mysterious. So coded too. According the linked Times article, the Fraternal Order of Freemasons is now volunteering (some of) their so-called ("we don't have any") secrets. The claim is this is their way to move into the 21st century with some degree of "openness" and "transparency." If they demystify, they claim, they then open the tent to new and younger membership. Just like the Republicans! I am not convinced here. What better way to preserve the real secrets, RR. You give up 10% of the silly, old-fashioned rituals (a handshake, lore about drinking from a skull, weird clothing, etc.) and everybody walks away bored and feeling slightly gypped. But what if Freemasons just actually changed the secret handshake and buried the other rituals deeper? Classic misdirection: hiding in plain view and you'll never know. Just like the Republicans! I am not convinced here either. But. What if Freemasonry is just something started by a couple of kooks who sat around and made stuff up and over time it became this whole thing with it's own language, rituals, codes, rules, and associations? Just like the...wait! That's just like the Kingdom of Leisure! If my TGA* serves me well, tKoL has an annual Field Mowing Day, Attic Day, Fist Pumping Day, etc. The Kingdom of Leisure has characters such as the Otter Prince, BDW, PBG/Luce Duke, Camp Cookie, Hi-Def, Grayman, BSD, The Manniyer, Sistine, etc. It also maintains associations with organizations far and wide who have many secrets of their own (the World Bank, "Hollywood," the federal government of the United States). There is generally celebration revolving around Groundhog Day and imagery and lore associated with the otter and the cat (dogs are a recent addition). Lots of stuff with angels and levels and worlds and corners appear through tKoL lore as well. There is much patriotism among the criticism and observation about America. Middlespace Cadets. Powder Monkeys. Guru-ism. New America. Free Milk. Preck. Burkelee Carroll. JANG. The Willard Gentlemen's Club. Weird and secret shit all over the place, RR. And this is just a mere surface scratch of an iceberg's tip. Perhaps there is no one leader or owner of all the truths. Perhaps we are all tKoL. It seems, in 2010, very few conspicuous degrees of separation connect its membership and its associations across the World Wide Web and the physical world. Some could argue that tKoL is making their own art history. RR, you may be ON to something like the coldest calculus! Or. What if the Kingdom of Leisure is just something started by a couple of kooks who sat around and made stuff up and over time it became this whole thing with it's own language, rituals, codes, rules, and associations? Just like the...wait! That's just like the Freemasons! Or, just like the Republicans. I am not convinced. Mysteries linger. Just a guess, -ty --------------------- * Classic misdirection here. Get bogus diagnosis of TGA and forever claim slippery memory when pressed for details. That's why I'm the motherfucking KING of leisure, don. Like Ronald Wilson Reagan, "I do not recall shit, man!"