Illustration and text by Diego Patiño. Check out his tumblr for more awesome work.
THE KARMATAMISIS
“It seems as if some great misfortune always befalls the city when such things are born.” -From the diary of Lucca Landucci, in reference to the Monster of Ravenna, Florence, 1512
The Karmatamisis is a parasitic infection caused by uncritical exposure to nonsensical traditions and beliefs based on supernatural and paranormal assumptions. The parasite infects most genera of cold-headed humans and its primary host is the susceptible individual with a strong desire to avoid all kind of rational thinking, despite factual evidence to the contrary. The promise of life after death, alleged divine punishment and an irrational fear of the sky falling are the primary sources of infection, although contact with pseudo science raw material in magazines, on the Internet and television is a more significant source of infection in some countries; in particular, those where superstition, ignorance and the lack of secular education govern the collective imagination. It is estimated that 97.8% of the world’s human population is host to a Karmatamisis infection at some stage in their life. The infection scale ranges from 1 (Just-paid-a-fortune-teller idiot) to 30 (Evolution-is-a-hoax nutjob). During the first few weeks post-exposure, the infection typically causes cognitive deterioration, an irrepressible compulsion to mumble in tongues and a desperate desire to believe men, aliens and dinosaurs coexisted together six thousand years ago. Thereafter, brain damage becomes more extensive, numbing rationality and destroying the individual’s capacity to develop the minimum degree of scepticism necessary to have a sensible, sane existence. The infected tend to gather in congregations, cults and associations with others of their ilk. Those with the weakest intellectual systems—religious devotees, medium visitors, ghost hunters, believers in UFOs, creationists and so on—may become seriously imbecilic as their dangerous actions expose them to foolish and often ridiculous behaviour. Unfortunately, these actions are often masked by equally moronic members of the media, thus contributing to the expansion of the infection’s vicious and brutal cycle. In the most extreme cases, the Karmatamisis parasite has been linked to general stupidity.