Kibology

Kibology is a parody religion. It grew out of the Usenet newsgroup alt.religion.kibology named after Kibo,[1][2] the central figure. Practitioners of Kibology are called Kibologists or (sometimes more disdainfully) Kibozos.

James "Kibo" Parry and his friends began Kibology about 1989 at the suggestion of Mark Jason Dominus. In its early Usenet days it was centered in the newsgroups talk.bizarre and alt.slack, until the creation of alt.religion.kibology in late 1991. The faux religion aspect faded in the mid 1990s, and the newsgroup became oriented to the sense of humor of Kibo and his "followers". The newsgroup also follows various internet "mad scientists" and "crackpots" such as Archimedes Plutonium, Kurt Stocklmeir, and Time Cube inventor Gene Ray with a mixture of mockery and appreciation for the unintended humor they produce. A similar Internet phenomenon exists surrounding the Church of the SubGenius. Some posters also "wackyparse," which is to say, they comment on misreadings with humorous effect.

In addition to "Leader Kibo," other Kibologists have developed cult followings of their own from their unusual and humorous writing. The most prominent of these include David Pacheco, Lisa Pea (Elisabeth Rea Higgins), Matt McIrvin, Stephen Will Tanner, Stefan Kapusniak, M Otis Beard, Joe Bay, Gardner S Trask III,Dag Ågren, and E Teflon Piano. In 2003, the group spawned a band, Interröbang Cartel, which by early late 2011 had written and recorded more than 80 songs.

Notes

  1. ^ Baczewski, Philip (1994). Philip Baczewski. ed. Tricks of the Internet Gurus (1 ed.). Indianapolis: Sams Publishing. ISBN 0672305992. LCCN 94-67090. "one Usenet group named for him, alt.religion.kibology, has at least 88,000 subscribers." 
  2. ^ Morten T. Højsgaard; Margit Warburg (2005). Religion and cyberspace. Routledge. p. 55–56. ISBN 978-0-415-35767-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=gyJIIncdSGoC&pg=PA55. Retrieved 6 August 2011. 

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