An actual Chick tract was left on my door

[darjr]

Leaving these around in secret shame, in high school. That’s rather sad.

 

[payn]

Hmm, I have never seen one of these outside the internets.

 

[Umbran]

Disappointed. Not Dark Dungeons.

We are, alas, not the center of the Universe. We are not even the center of Jack Chick's universe (or, the universe of the publishing company that survives him). Their website offers 271 tracts, so we are like 0.4% of their universe.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Strangely, despite the magnitude it had (and still does) in stoking Satanic Panic and of its anti-gaming impact (even if it is unintentionally hilarious for how melodramatic it is), I'm more intrigued and amused than anything else. Having lived through that era but never having seen one in the wild, in a weird way it's like touching a part of gaming history...

Two things-

The last time I saw a Jack Chick tract in the wild was ... oof ... I want to say 20 years ago? Maybe 15? I was walking to a MLB stadium, and someone was passing them out. Even then, it was kind of surprising.

That said, the other thing I want to say is this- these are easy to mock, and to parody. But ... they also caused a lot of damage. One thing I've become far too aware of is that things that I think are absolutely absurd, things that I think no rational person could believe, things that I think are such obvious lies no one could believe them (or could easily be checked by even a cursory google search) ... have an amazing power over people.

I'm more careful about what I think is amusing than I used to be.

 

[embee]

Deleted out of caution.

 

[payn]

When JW or Mormons come around I just use my HeroQuest doors to block them.

 

[ART!]

I can't find a good link, but George Carlin had a great bit about never having seen "a Gideon", but if you called the front desk at your hotel and said there wasn't a Gideon's Bible in your room, they would have to send a Gideon up to bring you one.

I was way too nice to the JWs who - chatting with me at the front door - started offering their pamphlets about child endangerment and child abuse when they heard kids playing in my house. I about lost it, but that's not how I roll.

I recall a lot of Chick tracts floating around when I was growing up. I grew up in a very Catholic town, so I'm not sure who they were aimed at.

Dark Dungeons is an absolute masterpiece of hyperbole and completely failing to understand things.

 

[dragoner]

Is Jack Chick still around? I have a collection of these from 20+ years ago when I used to eat at a little hole in the wall Korean joint that was near a project. They had a box near the register full of them and I would rummage out a new one every now and then.

 

[Umbran]

Mod note:
Folks, while we may poke some fun at Chick's tracts, commentary about various religious groups is not where this thread is going to go. Please stop. Thanks.

 

[Umbran]

Is Jack Chick still around?

He passed away in October 2016. There's still Chick Publishing that puts out the tracts.