On Wednesday, March 19, 2003, at 07:00 pm, John Milne wrote:

How do people on this list feel about Drummond and Cauty appropriating some of the "Illuminati" imagery in their work, particularly at the very beginning and the end of their recording careers?

to me it's always seemed to be a perfectly discordian thing to do i'm glad they did - if they hadn't used the number 23 continuously i'd have never noticed the Law of 5s myself, never asked the author Robert Rankin about his continuous 23 references, he'd never have pointed me towards the Illuminatus book and i'd never have read it and then gone straight out and tracked down a copy of the Principia Discordia and converted instantly to the church of Eris. as such, i'd probably be worried about the approaching war, instead of realising that it's all good, in the big scheme of discord :) :)

Isn't it the unfortunate case that these sort of images and reference points can sometimes be open to misinterpretation (or be used by extremely nasty people)? When the KLF were on TOTP in 1991, even Anthea Turner mentioned that they looked "like The Ku Klux Klan". It was merely a crass short-hand description of their druidic outfits, of course. But I wondered what the views of other people on the list are?

yeah, cos you'd be sure to find 2 KKK members in band with such a multi-racial array of backing members and frontmen (ie. the rappers) but i see your point, but it never stuck me like that they were just continuing to build a mystery and a story around themselves - which i guess kinda back-fired, because it is because of the imagery they used to build the klf mythology that i became such a big fan of them and why i still am today. the fact that they were actual references to existing stories and ideas (the JAMM, the wickerman on jura, etc etc) just makes it more compelling and interesting in my mind. i wonder if, without the imagery, would they have made it as far as 1991? . -- --- Don't you ever wonder, don't you ever think don't you even care, is your brain on the blink I blame the Turtles - an influence bad All the little Children, brain dead, its sad http://www.cleanroom.co.uk/bttp/ - Back To The Planet

On Wed, Mar 19, 2003 at 07:00:34PM -0000, John Milne wrote:

Something I've been ruminating over for a long time ...

How do people on this list feel about Drummond and Cauty appropriating some of the "Illuminati" imagery in their work, particularly at the very beginning and the end of their recording careers? Isn't it the unfortunate case that these sort of images and reference points can sometimes be open to misinterpretation (or be used by extremely nasty people)? When the KLF were on TOTP in 1991, even Anthea Turner mentioned that they looked "like The Ku Klux Klan". It was merely a crass short-hand description of their druidic outfits, of course. But I wondered what the views of other people on the list are?

That sounds like the sort of misinformation I'd expect from Turner. You know she's been associated with A.'.A.'. as well as the Golden Dawn and various lesser-known offshoots, and has been disgraced and banned from most of them, under extremely mysterious circumstances (at least four gardeners are thought to have disappeared as a direct result of one de-smocking of the lovely Anthea, known at one time as the Bride Of Tsephon). The only thing the Illuminatus have to do with the KKK is that they supplied the majority of Klan uniforms between 1954 and 1973, and used microtransmitters in the lining of the robes to identify prominent left-wing feminists and peaceniks who had infiltrated the movement. The data were used to undermine numerous liberals' positions, as their supporters would have been most upset to find they were high ranking cyclopses, grand schlongs and so forth. I hope that answers your question, jon -- "It is always the best policy to tell the truth, unless, of course, you are an exceptionally good liar." - Jerome K. Jerome