CHRIS KORDA - TECHNOPRODUCER, RELIGIOUS FOUNDER, ANTIHUMANIST

Thank you for not breathing here

Under the title "Six Billion Humans Can't Be Wrong", Chris Korda is currently releasing an album that is intended to act as a Trojan horse to spread the ideology of his Church of Euthanasia throughout the world.

TED GAIER AND SUZANNE ZAHND

God knows, there is nothing that doesn't exist: a church for the decimation of humanity, digitally transmitted criticism of technology, fundamentalist cross-dressing, breaking taboos with a guitar, propagating cannibalism from a vegan perspective. A heartily bourgeois, Dadaist-nihilistic combination. We are talking about Reverend Chris Korda's "Church of Euthanasia", whose first practical concern is the reduction of the human species. The essence of what is flying around your ears in the typical American way of hating civilization is radical anti-humanism at a high intellectual level. A paradise of contradictions, when looking at which it is easy to happen that one encounters one's own.

First of all, it should be mentioned that Chris Korda is an extremely charming and humorous person, a friend of witty dialectics, good manners and beauty in itself - the opposite of a morbid apocalypticist.

THOU SHALT NOT PROCREATE

The Church of Euthanasia (COE) was founded in Boston in the early 1990s by Reverend Chris Korda and Pastor Kim, and is now a state-recognized religious community. The COE is based on the realization that humans, through their dominant position within nature, are responsible for the destruction of other life forms.

"The purpose of life is to make the planet fertile for even more life. Life makes life, which is what has transformed this planet from a piece of rock into a complex system of tens of billions of life forms. This is the natural mechanism of evolution. Over the last 5,000 years, however, humans have intervened in this process. We are for the restoration of the balance between humans and all other species.

Every forty minutes a species disappears irretrievably. Even if we think that McDonald's or discotheques are beautiful for aesthetic reasons, if we are happy that everything is the same everywhere, we have to accept that standardization and monoculture are illogical and self-destructive. They destroy our livelihoods. For us, ethics means considering this. It has nothing to do with social justice, class conflicts or God in heaven. It is only about biological diversity, about global existence. Humanism does not do justice to this, which is why we are an anti-humanist organization."

Recommended means of reducing the human race are suicide, euthanasia, sterilization and sexual practices that do not serve the purpose of reproduction. And abortion, if the sexual practices have gone wrong. However, sexuality itself is explicitly affirmed by the COE. Wilhelm Reich's writings on the liberation of sexuality are among the theoretical pillars of the church. Korda also wants the fact that he appears in public as a woman to be seen as an emancipatory sign, as an act against sexual determination. In general, voluntariness is the necessary basis for everything mentioned: anyone who wants to become a member of the COE simply undertakes not to contribute to the reproduction of humanity - thou shalt not procreate.

A CASE FOR A CHURCH

[missing lines]"Thank you for not breeding" is aimed at the participants of the so-called first world, after all, they are the ones who destroy resources most efficiently with their consumer behavior.

"Actually, I don't think that people are particularly evil by nature. Western civilization is evil, but it's only 5,000 years old. I believe that people can change. It's possible to reach their hearts and change them. I know this because it was the same for me. I was changed by things I read and by experiences. I have developed skills to create an awareness in others that can turn them into subversive people. I don't want to take people by surprise like the mass media does, I want to encourage them to think for themselves."

This is not exactly the classic strategy for making a church big, when almost every mass religion works with the promise or intention of doing the thinking for its followers. The COE offers the individual little perspective for their own spiritual well-being. And anyone who comes to a similar analysis regarding the destruction of biological diversity would perhaps be more likely to be a member of Greenpeace. In any case, the actions of the COE are spectacular in a much more pleasure-friendly sense than the stunts on oil platforms planned with the pedantry of elite units.

[missing lines]rents include things like "Eat a queer fetus for Jesus", "Depressed? Commit suicide" or "Spermfree cunts for the earth". The catalogue of requests is expanded to include the shocking sodomy and cannibalism, the latter being the only acceptable way to eat meat. Chris Korda is, of course, vegan.

The COE's public appearances are a mixture of demonstration and procession. The appearance includes Chris Korda as a neat lady, Pastor Kim in Catholic priest's garb and a sex doll nailed to a cross, called "Being", as well as a few dozen "normal-looking" activists.

"Our actions are to be seen in a situationist context. My strategy is constantly changing. A few people are enough if they manage to step into an open situation at the right moment and open the door for a larger force."

Most of the time, however, irritation or even hatred and fear are the usual reaction, and question marks on the faces of passers-by are obligatory. The COE repeatedly finds itself in the same line of opposition as militant anti-abortion activists, because the scenes of its actions are often moderate abortion clinics and sperm banks. And there are plenty of other reasons for the Church to do so: at a Republican election rally, for example, it exposed swastikas and called on people to support the Republicans. In the case of a group of people who wanted to beam themselves onto a passing comet, the COE organized a blessing service. Lydia Eccles, an important figure in the COE, initiated an election campaign for the "una bomber," a scientist who had killed several of his colleagues with letter bombs and whose anti-civilization manifesto the COE essentially agrees with.

USA, THE CULT PARADISE

Apart from the conscious distinction between the essence of the content and the means of propaganda, much of the image of the church here in Europe has a very different frame of reference than in the USA. It is well known that this large, proud country is the work of Christian fanatics. Religious quirks are met with more tolerance there than political deviance, i.e. questioning of the power structures. For example, the Black Panther Party was quickly destroyed, while the Nation of Islam still exists today. Another example of the other model country of democracy - one of which is, as we know, Switzerland - is that there are two equally aligned parties and voter turnout below the [missing lines] of religion. Chris Korda's move to prefer the form of church to the form of political organization shows a specifically American understanding of politics, society and opposition.

"Of course, sarcasm also plays a role. The decision to found a church was also motivated by the desire to attack the Catholic Church, because I equate its ideology with that of industrial society. But the main reason why we have not formed a political organization is that we do not believe in the political illusion. Giving people a new consciousness is a religious matter. Perhaps transformation is the right word. It is emotional, outside of rational processes. Either you feel a kind of hurt or shame about how things have developed in the history of civilization, or you don't. If you don't feel that, you will not be convinced by mere words."

TRANSPORTATION MUSIC

Korda's strategy of using the most technology-focused and globally mass-effective music as a propaganda medium is symptomatic of the contradictions that always and everywhere surround a fundamentalist critic of civilization. "I don't think you have to be 'pure' to be effective. Besides, it's totalitarian to define everything clearly and divide it into good and bad. For me, the paradox and the contradiction are something positive. I too bear the burden and guilt of industrial society. I grew up in New York City, I don't know how to grow vegetables. I know how to program computers, I'm part of the industrial elite and that's unlikely to change in my lifetime. But I try to be honest about it, not to hide my contradictions. That's also an important intention of the church, to make people aware of their contradictions. It's the same with my music. On the one hand, it's an excellent vehicle for my message, and I personally enjoy it. On the other hand, the intellectual side, I'm angry with myself because I'm participating in the wrong principle, being part of the wrong, global, technologized culture. Everyone is caught up in this machine we call 'technological trance'. Hypnotized by the shiny, pulsating bullshit. That really annoys me because I think it damages the individual's ability to reflect."

Korda's path to becoming a techno producer was quite atypical: he started playing guitar in 1977 and studied music theory with Jerry Bergonzi (a renowned saxophonist from the Coltrane school), among others. He wanted to be a bebop guitarist, played standards in restaurants or on the street, was a member of a fusion band and gave guitar lessons.

"I don't even know how to use turntables. I don't buy records. To be honest, I'm not interested in other people's records. Most of the music I really like is not electronic. My big hero is John Abercrombie, other influences are Jan Hammer, Pat Metheny and so on. The only kind of electronic music that influenced me a lot was house."

In 1993 he released his first CD "Demons In My Head", a dark sound collage. The activities of the COE also began at this time. He himself describes this record as part of his spiritual healing process, his personal exorcism. Interest in Korda's music remained low in the USA, even when the musical manifesto "Save The Planet, Kill Yourself" was released in 1994. It only received more attention in Europe three years later, when DJ Hell from Munich became aware of this record and released it on his label International Gigolo Records.

An impressive performance at Popkomm 97 brought Chris Korda into the audience's consciousness as a performer. Dressed as a woman, as in all his performances, he was seen dancing in an affected, awkward manner, like the ladies of high society do in films depicting a cocktail party. All he did was play a DAT cassette - and no one was bored. The audience quickly succumbed to his charm, and their breath caught when Korda did the impossible: with a grand gesture, he grabbed a guitar and strummed several songs. The taboo was broken perfectly.

After another maxi ("Sex Is Good"), the first album "Six Billion Humans Can't Be Wrong" is now being released. If you like, it's a contemporary electronic jazz-rock record, with the occasional house beat. You'll come across these warm, edgeless synth sounds everywhere: electric piano, Hammond, DXT piano - everything's there and not at all retrospective. Sometimes they jam for a good eternity while the band, which doesn't exist, "plays the riff". Everything remains tense, now the wah-wah organ, something is about to change. Ah, a voice (strong, proud, meaningful): "Insanity, determination, zeal".

He uses human voices and lyrics in such a way that they are more than just timbres, and there are no clichés about robots or sexual availability. He usually announces his message in just a few words. The short and striking slogans are repeated by different voices like mantras and the content is varied by small changes in the sequence. Occasionally, human sounds are used as rhythmic elements (for example as a hi-hat) before a word emerges from the sound. Two tracks stand out in a certain way on this record. Firstly, "Save The Planet, Kill Yourself", technoid, sharp and unmatched in its complexity and aggressiveness. Secondly, "Fleshdance", where the dance floor aspect comes to the fore.

"This is music for people who are totally overstimulated. They are dead inside, so it takes an insane volume and light effects to make them feel anything. Electronic music is the exact reflection of our information society. The flickering obsession of the present replaces any perspective perception and reduces it to the now, Now! 'U uu me me me, everyone agrees with ME'. This is what the Love Parade means. For me it is a kind of Nazi party convention, extremely totalitarian. Over a million people around this phallic monument. The super DJ, high up on his podium, keeping the masses moving. And then this slogan: 'One world, one future'. The perfect expression for the globalized industrial society - one world, one shit!"

CHRIS KORDA-HIS FIGHT

It doesn't take much imagination to imagine the controversy that Korda's positions provoke, especially in Germany. The very name of the church makes many people bristle. In German-speaking countries, it is hard to find a dictionary that explains the term "euthanasia" without reference to the mass killing of the disabled and sick under National Socialism. While English reference works only list the original meanings: eu (beautiful), thanatos (death), the practice of painless killing, especially in cases of incurable illness.

Korda's very own relativization of the Holocaust represents an even more violent provocation. For him, it is not a unique event, not only because the colonial powers, for example, acted in a similar way to the Nazis with the partly systematic extermination of various indigenous peoples, but also because of the fact itself that human civilization has been destroying animals and plants for thousands of years.

As logical as such an argument may be for a vegan and as necessary as it is to separate the barbarism of colonialism from the trivializing master race idea that higher and more primitive cultures would have collided - why does it always have to be the Holocaust? The Black Book of Communism, the Walser debate and the fact that in the Kosovo war each side identified at least one Hitler in the other, testifies to an enormous attrition effect, which ultimately leads to the disappearance of history and the total triumph of the present.

The planned cover photo, which shows Korda naked in the Dachau incinerator, reached the limits of what International Gigolo Records thought the public could bear. The controversial photo was replaced with one showing Korda in his performance outfit as a mixture of Demi Moore and Juliette Greco. This may have taken away the meaning of the title, but it spared Gigolo Records a heated debate that the label would not have been able to handle in terms of content or capacity.

The discussion about the symbolic language of this image is more than enough to fill an evening. It is because of it that Chris Korda fell out with his father, the well-known best-selling author of Jewish-Hungarian origin, Michael Korda, but that is another story. First of all, Reverend Korda was evangelizing at the Love Parade in Berlin last weekend. We do not know how many souls he was able to rescue from the "technological trance" there, in the heart of the beast. After all, he was not just courting new followers: competitors included the youth organizations of the CDU and FDP, as well as the Catholic Church.

Which might lead one to wish Korda much success - isn't the fight against humanity also the fight against capitalism?

The Chris Korda quotes are from a conversation that Ted Gaier had with him in Munich in June 1999. Ted Gaier lives in Hamburg, is a musician himself and plays in the politically explicit group Die Goldenen Zitronen.

Chris Korda's records are released by International Gigolo Records, Munich, through RecRec distribution.

The COE on the Internet: www.churchofeuthanasia.org

The preceding is a translation. The original language is here.