Wikinews interviews Brenton Clutterbuck

Monday, August 6, 2012

Clutterbuck stood for election in the electorate of Maroochydore, representing the Greens

Wikinews contributor Patrick Gillett recently interviewed Brenton Clutterbuck about his project on Discordianism.

"I'd like to add something to the knowledge base of what we know about Discordianism," says Clutterbuck. "I want to work on a piece that follows a travel narrative structure." In 2009, Clutterbuck was interviewed — by the same contributor — in his capacity as an election candidate.

Similar works include Voices of Chaos by Timothy Bowen.

Interview

((WN)) : Can you describe Discordianism?

Brenton: I can somewhat.

Discordianism really depends on the person who practices it. As a general rule it's a philospohy that divides reality into two parts; Order and Disorder. It says that both of these are illusions, but if we cut it into two parts it means we can play around with different aspects of reality. In Discordianism, the element of Disorder is regarder [sic] as more fun to interact with than the element of Order.

((WN)) : Do you follow this philosophy?

Brenton: I do yes. But part of following it really also means being skeptical of it. If you feel like you're a bad Discordian for challenging or rejecting parts of the philosophy that don't suit you, you're missing the point. It's very much a self-directed philosophical path, with a number of cheezy jokes thrown in to keep it fun.

((WN)) : What do you hope to achieve from this project?

'The Prankster and the Conspiracy' by Adam Gorightly

Brenton: There's really not a huge amount of work about Discordianism out there. So I'd like to add something to the knowledge base of what we know about Discordianism. Especially in regards to the modern face. There's some works that go into detail about the origins of Discordia, including 'The Prankster and the Conspiracy' by Adam Gorightly which gives a detailed overview of Kerry Thornley who was one of the two founders of Discordia.

But there are so many big exciting names in Discordia today whose stories haven't been told in much detail, and I'd like to remedy that.

((WN)) : How long do you hope to take on this project?

Brenton: Possibly a year. A bit over half the year for meeting with interviewees and then another six months or so hopefully on the editing process. It starts in earnest 2013, but if you count the preliminary work going on right now it should be 18 months all up. I've already started some interviews with figures such as Professor Cramulus, St Mae, Peterson Silva (Brazilian Discordian who translated the Black Iron Prison text into Portuguese) Gavriel Discordia from the Discordian Culture Shop and others from further out, places like Sweden and Finland.

((WN)) : In what form will your project take (book, essay etc)?

Brenton: It should come out as a book. Hopefully I'll also end up with some footage I can upload as well of the interviews I hold.

((WN)) : Where would you upload this footage to?

Brenton: Youtube. With the permission of interviewees.

((WN)) : So you know of any other people working on similar projects?

Brenton: I know Pope Timothy Bowen who I've already had contact with, worked on something similar with Voices of Chaos, a fantastic collection of interviews with contemporary Discordian figures. In contrast I want to work on a piece that follows a travel narrative structure, and spend some more time interacting with groups of Discordians worldwide.

((WN)) : Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Brenton: I'm self-funding this project. There've been some others out there who've been excited about this project and have said they'd like to help make it happen. So if anyone would like to help out, I do have a Pozible page going on that I'd be super appreciative of you linking to.
The Pozible page is found at: pozible.com/eris


Sources

 
Wikinews
This exclusive interview features first-hand journalism by a Wikinews reporter. See the collaboration page for more details.