Illumninatus! Author Needs Our Help

Criceratops writes, "Almost every fringe-geek worth their salt has read 'The Illuminatus! Trilogy,' or at least the 'Principia Discordia,' and much of the enlightenment therein came from Robert Anton Wilson. On the eve of 'Xena' being officially named Eris, Douglas Rushkoff's blog reveals that the extremely ill Mr. Wilson can't make his rent. Another testimony to how our society refuses to reward those who enrich it... but not if we can help it!"

Quoting the man

[fruey]

Dr Lecter, my candidate for the male archetype of 1951-2000, will never win any Nice Guy awards, I fear, but he symbolizes our age as totally as Bloom symbolized his. Hannibal's wit, erudition, insight into others, artistic sensitivity, scientific knowledge etc. make him almost a walking one man encyclopedia of Western civilization. As for his "hobbies" as he calls them -- well, according to the World Game Institute, since the end of World War II, in which 60,000,000 human beings were murdered by other human beings, 193, 000,000 more humans have been murdered by other humans in brush wars, revolutions, insurrections etc. What better symbol of our age than a serial killer? Hell, can you think of any recent U.S. President who doesn't belong in the Serial Killer Hall of Fame? And their motives make no more sense, and no less sense, than Dr Lecter's Darwinian one-man effort to rid the planet of those he finds outstandingly loutish and uncouth.

On the strength of that, it's not hard to understand how he ends up being on the fringe of society. Even if he does kind of have a point.

HUH, Whatever happened

[gx5000]

HUH, Whatever happened to christian charity ? I'm not intent on writing flamebate here but really, I for one am sick of people claiming religious morality and sitting on their hands. Oh yeah, I'm an atheist too, but I seem to think that a seventy year old in pain is worth a couple of bucks, and with our health care in canada, well, I know it's just that much harder in the US if you fall ill... Just my two cents. Peace out !

Re:Cue all the anarcho-capitalists....

[gnork]

You obviously haven't read one of his books... judging from the tone of your post you never will. That's probably for your own good, as you wouldn't grasp them anyway (Yeah, I am soooo 133337 because i read his books). And you know sh*t about him... seems to entitle you at least for some cynicism. I hope you will have the same fate when you grow old. I had a lot of fun while reading his books and will help him out.

Re:Payment for his copyrighted work?

[Anonymous Coward]

Could it be that his publisher has conned him out of his royalties? Not an uncommon occurance, I'm sad to say.

Re:I Don't Know, Man

[Anonymous Coward]

Even with insurance, medical bills add up REALLY QUICKLY

Sorry for going off topic here, but what do you mean? Isn't the whole reason for medical insurance that your insurance pays the bills for you?

Coming from a very different coutry to yours (where we care for our infirm, rather than deride them like the first poster) I find it hard to get to grips with some of the concepts.

In fact sometimes I think I'd prefer not to know. I've often wondered what happens when someone needs life-saving medical treatment but doesn't have medical insurance. I figure the answer is somewhere between 'the doctors treat them out of kindness' and 'they get turned in to soylent green and given to feed unemployed, homeless people' but I'm too scared to read in to it in case the answer is closer to the latter for comfort.

Now you tell me that even if you have health insurance, there's no guarantee that you won't be turned in to soylent green?!

Can anyone explain how your country works in this regard?

Is there anyone here who hated the book?

[OakDragon]

God bless the poor guy, and I do feel sorry for him... But I own a copy of this trilogy, and honestly, I tried to read it and couldn't. It was just crap (my opinion, obviously). So I was a little surprised to see so many people here who admired it. Is there anyone here who found it unreadable, like me?

Re:Update to this story - Money raised

[Anonymous Coward]

I feel compelled to repeat what was said on boinboing, it might lead to a change of heart in some:

Anyway, this morning Bob's daughter showed up at his house in tears because she had checked his PayPal account and found money for next month's rent plus more. Bob called me to say that he couldn't believe people would care so much about him and as we talked (which isn't easy for him at this point) he was overcome with emotion more than once. He is so touched and RELIEVED at the possibility of staying in his home. He kept repeating to me his deep felt appreciation and disbelief that people would care so much about him. What a humble and sweet man.

Re:I Don't Know, Man

[Anonymous Coward]

In practice what actually happens is that insurance companies either require deductables on the order of thousands of dollars per procedure (where every tiny thing is it's own procedure) or they simply don't cover very much.

Not true at all, well, not in all cases anyway. It's amazing the amount of FUD being thrown about here. Fact is, if your a "professional" then there is a good chance that you have pretty decent medical insurance. For instance, since I've been a developer (going on over 20 years) I've had pretty good insurance. Deductables are around $200/year and most things are covered 100% (minus a $10-$15 copay or office visit fee). When we had our kids we only ended up having to pay the deductable and copay (and the copay was a one time shot for each pregnancy, IOW each visit related to the pregnancy was treated as one 9 month long visit). I've known two people who've ended up getting heart bypass' and have had to pay fairly little out of pocket. Of course the paperwork will eat you alive and many mistakes are made, but if you stick with it, it is heads and shoulders above what many around here would lead you to believe. Now before you start flaming away, keep in mind that my point is that not ALL insurance sucks. I know the flip side as well, my parents are on Medicare, and it sucks. Out of pocket expenses are higher, but the biggest issue is the quality of care is less than good (i.e. it sucks bad). We also have a few friends who basically have no insurance, or pay for insurance out of their own pockets (independant contractors and in one case a self employed lawyer) and that certainly sucks. But the fact is decent insurance is out there, and like it or not, one has to factor this in when you're deciding what type of career to pursue. Go the artistic route if you want, more power to you, but you have to plan for any issues (such as insurance) that this will entail.

Sad News

[kruhft]

This is unfortunate that such a great man can fall to such a level after creating so many important and influential pieces of work in his lifetime. RAW is a genius, and his books, of which I owned almost every one, have been a great influence on my life (sometimes to the detriment, but I've always recovered, somewhat ;-) and he is considered on the the greatest "pop" philosophers of our time.

We live in this time of great wealth for some, but in turn, the creators and artists of our world live in squalor; we appreciate and love the work they create, but refuse to give payment, even when it is asked for in great need for help. I know there comments posted here are from the type of people that generally help those in need; I hope that an 'angel' that has been influenced by RAWs work in the past sees this story, investigates, and can give real help to a man that has touches so many lives and minds. I hope to be one someday, it is just too soon for me to be that way, but I plan on it.

Creators do not deserve untold riches for their works, but they do deserve some treatment so that they can survive into old age comfortably. Artists, by nature, are not the most capable of planners, as intelligent and creative as they are. The need to create often succeeds the desire to plan; some get lucky and live well, others not, as we can see here.

I have never met RAW, and unfortunately, may never get to. But I hope such a brilliant man finds the help that he needs to die in comfort and peace. He deserves that.

Re:I Don't Know, Man

[Anonymous Coward]

Fact is, if your a "professional" then there is a good chance that you have pretty decent medical insurance.

Even if you are God Himself, your insurance will stipulate a "lifetime limit" of 1 to 2 million dollars of payout before they leave you to die. Heart bypass surgery is a stocking stuffer compared to spending several decades of your life half-paralyzed. Better double-check your policy there. Plus, when you're talking about being insured "as a professional" that almost certainly means you're talking about group health plans, and they only count as long as you're employed.

I was diagnosed with MS this summer, and I have no idea what will happen to me at the end of the year when the company's insurance contract renews. Will the insurance company try to force my boss to fire me? Will they quadruple the rates in an attempt to get my co-workers to make my life a living hell to get me to quit? Or will they just refuse to insure the entire company, leaving us all in the drink trying to find an insurer that will take us just long enough to get my condition ruled a pre-existing condition so that they don't have to deal with it?

Re:If you send him $5, the fnords won't get you.

[stapedium]

I'm sure Jesus had background checks in mind when he said,

"Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back."
Luke 6:30

Re:If you send him $5, the fnords won't get you.

[Raenex]

Maybe it's better not to rely on interpretations of words that were passed on secondhand thousands of years ago, and then translated into other languages and cherry picked for content, and finally missing all the context of living in those times. Maybe we can just decide for ourselves what is moral.