NationStates Jolt Archive

Absurdism in action! (http://sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/story/canada/national/2005/06/03/ontchildren050603.html)
What the hell? That sounds like something out of a novel written by Kafka or Nabokov. When the truth is weirder than the fiction, Absurdism has been victorious. This story is an example of what I call Tragic Absurdism. Hopefully I can find a link to something Comicaly Absurd.

I'm just trying to lay the groundwork for my own brand of Political Absurdism. The Rhino Part of Canada is the inly example I know of this delisiciously insane political doctrine, or undoctrine as the case may be. The basic gist of it that Absurdim be counted a viable political philosphy in the same way it was the court jesters job make fun of the king when he needed to be taken down a notch. No one ever elects Absurdist candidates, and no Absurdist Candidate expects to be elected. They are there as the voices of the comic and tragic that any political campaign becomes. I want speculate though: What would the policies of an Absurdist Government be?

I'll be fleshing it out here, and if you're really bored can critique my ideas, make suggestions, ask questions, or even sharpen your knives and pick everything apart.

Are we talking Caligula/Emperor Norton style Absurdism, or Ionescu style Absurdism, or Monster Raving Looney Party style Absurdism here?

Are we talking Caligula/Emperor Norton style Absurdism, or Ionescu style Absurdism here?

A combinantion of both. Biting political satire and tragedy is great and all, but farce and comedy deserve attention to.

Well that just sounds like New York City government on any given day.

Well that just sounds like New York City government on any given day.

Thats part of the point! Governements come and and go, but the Absurd will always be there.

In Denmark, an absurdist politician was actually elected to the parliament, running as an independent, back in the late nineties. One of his electoral promises was to provide that the wind would always be at a bicyclists back. He also promised to provide better weather.

We need a strong party platform based around the idea of ducks wearing pants.

Such a party was founded in the UK by David Lord Sutch.
It still exists http://www.omrlp.com/

I'm working on a story with this sort of idea, actually. It's about an absurdist universe where an anarchist society fights for freedom from an organic supercomputer created by an ancient civilization to bring order to the universe, but robbing everyone of their freedom in the process.

We need a strong party platform based around the idea of ducks wearing pants.

Yeah, we'll have noted somewhere above the motion to declare knee-walking turkeys a valid gender choice, but well below the declaration about hamsters.


Actually Absurdism is not Randomism, though Randomism is Absurd, and Absurdism is also absurd.

Maybe I should just call it Ismism, the same wise ass remark I give to people who ask me to define my style by a genre.