…and this is a 
While I was off at the Lindau Nobel meeting, hanging out with mere Nobel prize winners and scientists and enthusiastic graduate students, I seem to have missed my chance to hang out with fairies and angels.
About 250 people came to the Methow Valley June 26 through 28 from as far away as Europe and Hawaii to participate in the ninth annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress, an outdoor festival in a secluded mountain meadow called Skalitude.
Hey, I know where that is — near Twisp (a wonderful name for a fairy congress), Washington, and very lovely place. And they were gathered for such a noble purpose!
"The purpose of the congress is to encourage communication and cooperation of the fairy realm," said Michael "Skeeter" Pilarski, the event's founder and organizer.
The human world is in crisis and can use all the help it can get, Pilarski said, so why not form alliances with those in other realms?
Why not, indeed. It sounds so reasonable. They're also right about something.
Skeptics might mock the participants or dismiss them as New Age hippies, but they say their belief system is not much different from Native American animists or even Christians who believe in angels.
You're exactly right, Skeeter. There's no difference at all between what you're doing and what's going on in churches every day, all across the world.
Comments
Posted by: Nils Ross | July 6, 2009 6:58 AM
At least these guys are getting outdoors as part of their delusions.
Posted by: Marcus Ranum | July 6, 2009 7:01 AM
There's no difference at all between what you're doing and what's going on in churches every day, all across the world.
I bet they don't eat thier fairies like the catholics do.
Posted by: kermit | July 6, 2009 7:10 AM
'"Thirty years ago, we would have been called kooks or worse," he said. "Now people are more accommodating in their thinking."'
Well call me old fashioned, but...
Kermit
Posted by: Rorschach | July 6, 2009 7:10 AM
Does that mean you're back home now,from hanging out with Nobel prize winners?
And we seem to have already crashed the fairie server,too...:-)
Posted by: MadScientist | July 6, 2009 7:10 AM
Earth calling Skeeter! Earth calling Skeeter! Skeptics will mock you *because* your "belief system is not much different from Native American animists or even Christians who believe in angels."
Personally I'd rather not have hippies helping me out; they only get in the way. So please stay in Skalitude with your fairies, New Age Hippy folks.
Posted by: Alan | July 6, 2009 7:13 AM
We should pull out all our teeth and hope the tooth fairy will save us from our economic woes!
Posted by: Geoff Rogers | July 6, 2009 7:14 AM
I figure they haven't quite realised why the epithet Sky Fairy(TM) is so widely utilised.
Posted by: Stone Age Scientist | July 6, 2009 7:15 AM
I seem to have missed my chance to hang out with fairies and angels.
Professor Myers, it is as well that you missed the chance. Didn't you know that fairies inherently distrust biologists?
Posted by: DuckPhup | July 6, 2009 7:29 AM
(... to the tune of "She'll be Comin' 'round the Mountain")...
There's a skeeter on my peter... knock it off
There's a skeeter on my peter... knock it off
There's a dozen on my cousin;
You can hear them bastards buzzin'
There's a skeeter on my peter... knock it off
Posted by: Kobra | July 6, 2009 7:35 AM
Was anyone else expecting satire of fundamentalism from "Fairy and Human Relations Congress?" Or am I alone on this?
Posted by: Kobra | July 6, 2009 7:38 AM
Was anyone else expecting satire of fundamentalism from "Fairy and Human Relations Congress?" Or am I alone on this?
Posted by: Kobra | July 6, 2009 7:40 AM
These comment glitches are starting to... bug me. *rimshot*
Posted by: Wildflower | July 6, 2009 7:41 AM
"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later. "
Seems like the apache didn't like the comments about Native Americans. Well, either that or Pharyngula might be starting to compete with /. and 4chan.
Posted by: Benjamin Geiger | July 6, 2009 7:54 AM
Hrm. Maybe Catsby was already booked?
Posted by: Canuck | July 6, 2009 7:58 AM
That's just too funny. Fairies? People actually travel to conferences to talk about fairies? There's no hope for humanity. We'll ultimately prove to be too stupid to survive.
Posted by: chrisD | July 6, 2009 8:01 AM
Cue Homer Simpson: "You’re living in a world of make believe, with flowers, and bells, and leprechauns, and magic frogs with funny little hats..."
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD
|
July 6, 2009 8:07 AM
A major difference is that the sex among the fairy crowd is going to be more fun. And consensual.
Posted by: Christophe Thill | July 6, 2009 8:08 AM
Why didn't they choose Cottingley for their meeting ? I hard it's a charming place.
Posted by: Moggie | July 6, 2009 8:23 AM
Ok, who gave these clowns the authority to speak for all humanity when negotiating "alliances" with "other realms"? I don't want to wake up one morning with no teeth because some airheads wanted to play at United Nations.
Posted by: Happy Tentacles
|
July 6, 2009 8:26 AM
250 particpants at $250 apiece - someone obviously has their money-making chakras fully-aligned.
So have the human organisers agreed to share their profits with the fairies? Or will they keep the loot and try to pay the fairies off with tinkly bells and magic beans? After all, if they really DO believe in fairies and have read their folklore, they'll know that a fairy that thinks it's been cheated will turn very nasty, very quickly. They wouldn't dare cheat the fairies, would they? Or could it be that they DON'T really believe in fairies and have just found another way of extracting money from the credulous? I wonder . . .
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD
|
July 6, 2009 8:34 AM
@Happy Tentacles #20: They really don't want to mess with fairies. It's not like teasing Bigfoot so you can enjoy your beef jerkey more. No, lore has it that if you follow a fairy into hir realm, you can be gone for what seems like a day; but as in the case of special relativity return to find that 20 years have passed and your children are destitute and living on the streets of Salt Lake City.
Brutal.
Posted by: www.thebeginners.net | July 6, 2009 8:42 AM
Genesis
In the beginning there was nothing. God said, “Let there be light” and lots of things appeared. How do we know there was nothing if all the lights were off?
http://www.thebeginners.net
...not FOR beginners, but BY beginners...
Posted by: patheticloser | July 6, 2009 8:49 AM
My adult autistic daughter believes in fairies and has read a lot of the traditional folklore. They are nothing to mess with and if these guys were serious they would know that. Congress with fairies can lead to nothing but heartache (and fairy human hybrids). Everybody must wear a red shirt today, inside out and backwards. Confuses them.
Posted by: Sam C | July 6, 2009 8:57 AM
Oh yes there is a difference. A big difference. Power. Churches have it; but the Fairy Fuckwits are a dollop of dappy divs.
Posted by: cypressgreen | July 6, 2009 9:26 AM
I have a lot of pagan friends. They don't believe fairies are real, just more of a fun lesson teaching myth. But one of them has a daughter who got in an argument at school with a christian about fairies. We were so proud of her. She shut up the christian by saying, "Angels, fairies, whatever. It's all just pretty ladies with wings."
Posted by: randombloke | July 6, 2009 9:27 AM
Can I just point out that the existence of a vaguely humanoid insect-like animal that has not yet been formally identified is actually much more likely than that of a giant invisible bearded man in the sky who is also the sky.
Posted by: Ted Dahlberg
|
July 6, 2009 9:38 AM
Why not? The man has obviously never read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
Posted by: Sili
|
July 6, 2009 9:49 AM
Well ...If that was part of the worship, I might actually consider signing up ...
Someone had to start the dirty jokes.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
|
July 6, 2009 9:59 AM
I'm guessing (hoping?) that most of the people who attended this con don't really believe in fairies, despite the quote from the founder.
Posted by: a_ray_in_dilbert_space
|
July 6, 2009 10:13 AM
patheticloser says, "Everybody must wear a red shirt today, inside out and backwards. Confuses them."
OK. No problem. I'm a physicist. I dress that way pretty much every day.
Posted by: Walter Silveira | July 6, 2009 10:18 AM
Communications from the Fairy-Realm: "HEY! LOOK! LISTEN! HEY! HEY! HELLO? LISTEN! HEY! LOOK! LISTEN!"
[TELL ME there are some Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time fans here =p ]
Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | July 6, 2009 10:18 AM
There are better ways to get laid. & w/real human beings too.Posted by: co | July 6, 2009 10:23 AM
Ted, at #27: Yes, and those of us who have read that book know how comfortably *that* alliance turned out.
Posted by: cicely
|
July 6, 2009 10:28 AM
Happy Tentacles 20:
Nononono. You're looking at this all wrong!
Humanity has an overpopulation problem. Fairies want human babies (hush, don't ask why!). Supply and demand.
Okay, so it will be someone elses' babies in the pay-off. (Pick, pick, pick! You didn't think they'd barter off their own babies, did you?) The Third World has an inexhaustible supply.
We get cheap clean-up for our little ecological faux-pas (How do you plural that? Faux-pas'? Anyway...), and a cheap correction for that whole overloading-the-carrying-capacity-of-the-planet thing, they get the babies they want (don't ask, don't tell...)
It's win-win.
Posted by: Kausik Datta | July 6, 2009 10:40 AM
@22: Slight correction to your Genesis account.
In the beginning there was nothing. Then, God said: Let there be light.
There was still nothing, but now you could see it better.
Posted by: Tom Foss | July 6, 2009 10:44 AM
Naked Bunny (#29):
Oh, great. You just killed Tinkerbell. Now all 250 of those convention-goers are going to have to clap their hands raw.
Walter @31 wins the thread.
Posted by: Janine, OMnivore | July 6, 2009 11:00 AM
Well all right now!
Just what did you think I would link to?
Posted by: Stephen Wells | July 6, 2009 11:16 AM
Faux-pas means "false step" and "pas" does not change in the plural, nor (because of the x) does "faux", so "faux-pas" can be singular or plural as required.
We now await the answer to the question raised by T. Pratchett in Hogfather: _what does the tooth fairy need all the teeth for_?
Posted by: Sastra
|
July 6, 2009 11:28 AM
Naked Bunny with a Whip #29 wrote:
My guess is that they straddle the line of belief -- sometimes seriously believing in a very literal sense, other times taking it as poetic metaphor, and at all times feeling very smug about how noble, enlightened, and sensitive they are to be the kind of people who believe in belief. Believing in fairies is creative, but hard work. They think they deserve special credit.
I recognize these people: not personally, but the type. Two weeks ago my coffee-and-tea-ladies-group members expressed a general surprise that I didn't believe in fairies, even though I had avidly collected and drawn them as a child. They found that surprising. I tried to explain the concept of "fiction" to them, and that you can appreciate "fiction" on its own level. Some of these folks, however, were taking and even teaching courses in "mind-alters-reality" type The Secret apologetics back in the 70's and 80's, and they blur the distinctions between truth and fantasy with practiced ease.
Ironically, they consider me terribly literal-minded, what with the "worship" of science and all. I don't laugh at their views, for the reason PZ points out: technically, it's no more or less crap that the vast majority of religions, and of course they've appropriated some reasonable ethics and aesthetics. Or, perhaps I should say that I don't laugh at their views more than I laugh at other religious views. For some reason they seem to find it very reassuring that I lump them in with traditional theology and ancient animism when I critique. I think they think it marginalizes me even more, and reinforces their enlightenment.
Posted by: LC | July 6, 2009 11:50 AM
Well if these guys had read up on the mythology, they would have realised that the last thing you want to do is attract the attentions of the Sídhe. Until the fluffy new age Tinkerbell pixies showed up, your average fairy was seen as a sociopath at best, or psychotic at worst.
Still, maybe if we're really lucky they'll kidnap the nutters and put them to sleep for a hundred years or turn them into donkeys (though it would be hard to tell the difference).
Posted by: dogmeatIB | July 6, 2009 11:58 AM
Skeptics might mock the participants or dismiss them as New Age hippies, but they say their belief system is not much different from Native American animists or even Christians who believe in angels.
Why do they always have to point to us as an excuse for their woo? They don't say, "hey Native Americans practiced collective policies that made sure no one went hungry or froze to death..." Or, "Native Americans practiced representative democracy that likely influenced Franklin etc.,..." Nooo, nothing like that.
Sometimes I think the only thing worse than a well meaning European American is a European American who wants to talk to you about a land contract they have...
Posted by: Sven DIMilo | July 6, 2009 12:07 PM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN1AOamgrHk
Posted by: randombloke | July 6, 2009 12:12 PM
Well *spoiler alert* in that particular case it was mostly to stop other entities getting a hold of them and using them to control the children (to control someone with magic you need a part of their body) and kill the gods...What our tooth fairies want them for is anyone's guess though.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
|
July 6, 2009 12:35 PM
@Sastra #39: Huh. That's very interesting. I guess I'm more accustomed to the sci-fi and furry fandoms. They contains a lot of wishful thinking, to be sure, but most of us are distinctly aware that it's all imaginary.
Posted by: wasd | July 6, 2009 12:47 PM
A Fairy and Human Relations Congress?
Now why do I get the sense conservative oppose fairy/human relations? Lets be clear, they are after all not natural...
Posted by: cicely
|
July 6, 2009 12:52 PM
dogmeatIB @ 41:
Because your woo is trendy. Like the regular local radio call-in show with a guy who does Native American Tarot readings. Or the Native American Druidic Runestones. I'm sure there are other manifestations, but these are the two I've personally run into.
(Providing access to infrastructure---electricity, water, etc.---on reservations would appear to be completely not the point.)
Posted by: dogmeatIB | July 6, 2009 1:19 PM
Because your woo is trendy. Like the regular local radio call-in show with a guy who does Native American Tarot readings. Or the Native American Druidic Runestones. I'm sure there are other manifestations, but these are the two I've personally run into.
My woo? I'm a highly skeptical agnostic, closest I get to woo is Dr. Who and Primeval on BBC and the SciFi channel. ;o)
I used to have a traditional set of Native American Tarot cards, we branded them on the back of rabbits. It was really cool until Pokiman outlawed our Native American Pokiman cards, apparently because are card sets get larger naturally, it isn't "fair." Personally I think it's just more racism. ;o)
The really cool thing is you can get "authentic" Native American rune stones from those same rabbit tarot cards... trust me, they're authentic, only $19.95 plus shipping and handling.
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
|
July 6, 2009 2:10 PM
@dogmeatIB: I'll take 500!
Posted by: cicely
|
July 6, 2009 2:20 PM
Okay; make that a more generic "Native American woo". Better?
Posted by: dogmeatIB | July 6, 2009 2:26 PM
@dogmeatIB: I'll take 500!
Great, I'll just need your address, bank account number, and authorization!
Now before you receive these authentic Native American Rune Stones™, some non Native Americans have had difficulty reading the authentic native symbols, trust me, it is just a problem with being in the wrong mindset. Just look more closely, and trust me, you will see the symbols. Also, we have a special offer for a limited time only, if you find in your order a rune stone that has the image of Christ ministering to the natives of Missouri (extremely popular with our Mormon customers), I will send you, for just $27.75 shipping and handling, an additional 100 rune stones!!!!
Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip
|
July 6, 2009 2:56 PM
Do you think I'm stupid? I'm not giving that information out online! I'll mail cash.
Excellent! I'll totally recoup the costs when I sell them on eBay. Let me grab my girlfriend's debit card, and I'll send the payment after I get back from the ATM.
Posted by: Eyeoffaith | July 6, 2009 4:17 PM
"About 250 people came to the Methow Valley June 26 through 28 from as far away as Europe and Hawaii to participate in the ninth annual Fairy and Human Relations Congress, an outdoor festival in a secluded mountain meadow called Skalitude."
Gee. For some reason they forgot to give the number of fairies attending the festival. I wonder why that is? :)
I liked this bit:
"When encountering fairies and devas, Getten and others said, people tend to see what they expect to see. One workshop presenter said he once saw what looked like the Rice Krispies elves, Snap, Crackle and Pop."
Yep. He was smoking some good shit that day.
Posted by: Polyester Mather DD | July 6, 2009 4:32 PM
PZ would be better off dropping by at Fairy Meadows, the idyllic base camp for Nanga Parbat..
Lowest Woo Coefficient in Pakistan- just an amiable bunch of geologically savvy mountaineers bad mouthing the Taliban and playing low point polo. Bring the ladies.
Posted by: 'Tis Himself
|
July 6, 2009 4:57 PM
Up the airy mountain,
Down the rushy glen,
We daren't go a-hunting
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And grey cock's feather!
By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare
They have planted thorn trees
For pleasure here and there.
Is any man so daring
To dig up one in spite,
He shall find the thornies set
In his bed at night.
Posted by: Monado | July 6, 2009 5:25 PM
Invite people to contemplate nature and think nice thoughts about pixies, call it a conference and maybe it's tax-deductible: sounds like a licence to print money.
Posted by: Happy Tentacles
|
July 6, 2009 5:49 PM
Native American Runes - that's so wrong in every way! Or does someone extrapolate from the Vinland Saga that Norse and Native American traditions somehow merged and mingled?
And why does the stereotypical late 19th/early 20th century fraudulent medium (in fact and fiction)so often claim to have a Native American spirit guide? Was it post-colonial guilt, or simply because an unfamiliar accent was/is comparatively easy to fake? I have long been perplexed by this . . .
Posted by: Sven DIMilo | July 6, 2009 5:56 PM
I noticed that the two interviewed attendees gave their occupations as "herb farmer" and "retired horticulturist."
Posted by: Ted Dahlberg
|
July 6, 2009 6:30 PM
For people interested in fairy folklore, I highly recommend W. B. Yeats' (yes, the poet) "Writings on Irish Folklore, Legend and Myth" (ISBN 014018001X), a collection of his writing on the subject. 496 pages of very enjoyable reading even for crass materialists such as myself.
Posted by: Cath the Canberra Cook | July 6, 2009 6:32 PM
They need to read some Pratchett, too. Lords and Ladies, to be specific. Or A Hat Full of Sky.
Posted by: James | July 6, 2009 8:52 PM
Ironically, Twisp used to be the site of one of the most rational companies -- Softwear. They made tee shirts with logos like "186000 MPH, it's not just a good idea, it is the law." and other science-type shirts. I don't know what happened to them, I last heard from them in 1988 or so...
Posted by: Brownian, OM
|
July 6, 2009 9:31 PM
Whatever. I believe in pixies. Seriously. I've even seen them.
Posted by: Kristjan Wager | July 7, 2009 5:14 AM
Brownian, you only say that because you're really brownie. You thought you could fool us with that handle, but we see right through you.
Posted by: JBlilie | July 7, 2009 8:39 AM
James @60
Oops -- off by a factor of 3600 ...
Posted by: Jacob Gjedde | July 8, 2009 5:30 AM
Am I the only who remembers that "fairy" used to be a slur for male homosexuals? This may just have been the Young Republicans reaching out ......
Posted by: film izleme | July 9, 2009 6:55 AM
Thanx for sharing.