Robert Anton Wilson - Don't believe in anyone elses BS (Belief System)
Think for yourselves, schmucks!
This book was written by two white men (with libertarian streaks), in the 1970s, while they were employed at Playboy (a pornographic magazine). This work is very problematic by today's standards. While the authors likely thought their book was an attempt to combat colonialism, racism, sexism, etc... but, nearly 50 years later, parts of this work are outright offensive to the unprepared.
For the purposes of this novel, an aged piece of media, we'd like the reader to consider this policy blurb from Wizards of the Coast (the current publishers of Dungeons & Dragons) on older works:
Some older content may reflect ethnic, racial, and gender prejudice that were commonplace in American society at that time. These depictions were wrong then and are wrong today. This content is presented as it was originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed.
We've attempted to compile the most comprehensive list of content which may require warning.
Trigger Warnings[]
- ableism & ableist language
- abuse (physical, mental, emotional, verbal, sexual)
- abusive relationship
- acephobia ("virginity")
- age gaps (romantic)
- ageism
- alcohol, drinking (heavy & recreational)
- amputation (mentioned)
- authoritarianism
- bestiality
- biphobia
- blackmail
- blood (gore)
- bodies/corpses
- body shaming
- bombing
- bones (human)
- brainwashing
- branding (mentioned)
- bullying
- cannibalism (mentioned)
- car accident (mentioned)
- chemical warfare
- child abuse
- child pornography
- childbirth (mentioned)
- classism
- colonialism: anti-indigenous (north american tribes)
- colonialism: mystification of african diaspora religions & vodun
- colonialism: settlerism (anti-itinerant, use of g-slur)
- colorism
- concentration camps
- conspiracy theories
- controlling parents
- crucifixion
- cuckoldry (a sexist & racist fetish)
- cults, indoctrination, love-bombing, etc.
- cultural appropriation (including 'new age' & wicca)
- death of a loved one
- death of a parent
- death of a spouse
- death penalty
- decapitation
- detailed medical talk
- disembowelment
- domestic abuse
- drug addiction
- drug use (psychedelics)
- drug use (smoking & intravenous)
- drugging someone against their will
- dying
- emotional abuse
- execution
- exotification (ethnic/racial)
- explicit/graphic sex scenes
- extreme violence
- fatphobia
- female oppression
- fetishization (ethnic/racial/sexual)
- founding fathers of america
- gaslighting
- genocide
- gore
- guns
- hallucinations
- hanging (murder/suicide)
- historical atrocities
- holocaust
- homophobia
- hospitalization
- hostage situation
- hunting
- incest (mentioned)
- infant death (mentioned)
- injury
- insects (mentioned)
- intelligence agencies (cia, fbi, kgb, mi6, etc.)
- internalized acephobia/homophobia/transphobia etc.
- involuntary hospitalization
- kidnapping
- kink-shaming (which this list also does, see #36)
- kkk
- marital infidelity
- marriage
- mass death
- masturbation
- medical procedures
- mental illness, romanticized, miscategorized, trivialized
- microaggressions
- murder (attempted & achieved)
- mutilation
- nazis
- needles
- nightmares about traumatic events
- obscene phone-calls
- oral sex (graphic)
- outdated terms
- pandemic
- panic attacks
- paranoia triggers
- pedophilia/pederasty
- physical abuse
- pimps
- poisoning
- police / police brutality / mace / tear gas / arrest
- polyphobia/polyamory-based discrimination
- pornography (described)
- prejudice
- protests
- ptsd
- racial profiling
- racial stereotypes of poc including black, asian, indigenous, latine/x
- racism (racial & ethnic) including anti-blackness, anti-semitism
- rape (incl. prison)
- religion: christianity, catholicism, satanism, islam, hinduism, et. al.
- religious speculation & stereotyping (including islam, catholicism)
- religious syncretism & eclecticism (mixing and matching beliefs)
- riots
- sadism
- scars
- sex work (survival)
- sex worker abuse
- sexism
- sexual abuse / assault / exploitation
- sexual coercion
- sexual harassment
- sexual predator(s)
- skeletons
- slavery
- slurs (lots of slurs including n-slur, m-slur, etc.)
- slut-shaming
- smoking
- snakes
- spiders
- spiritual practices: buddhism, taoism, confucianism
- stillbirth (mentioned)
- suicide / ideation
- swearing
- talk of 'superior race'
- tear gas
- terrorism
- torture
- trauma
- use of the word 'savage'
- violence
- vomit
- war/warfare
- weapons
- witch prosecution/hunting (mentioned)
- unnecessarily long lists (band names)