it as "arguably a legitimate path to liberation", citing its culture jamming and activism against commercialism. Kirby posits that the Church is a religion masquerading as a joke, rather than the reverse: in her view, it is a spiritual manifestation of a cultural shift toward irony. Alberts believes there is broad agreement that the Church is fundamentally a different type of group than religions that date to antiquity; he prefers to use the term "fake religion" to describe it. He sees it, along with Discordianism, as part of a group of "popular movements that look and feel like religion, but whose apparent excess, irreverence and arbitrariness seem to mock religion". Knight characterizes the Church as "at once a postmodern spoof of religion and a viable system in its own right". Appraisal Kirby argues that the Church forms a counterpart to Jean Baudrillard's concept of hyperreality, arguing, "they create, rather than consume, popular culture in the practice of their spirituality". She calls their remixing of popular culture sources an "explicitly creative process", maintaining that it prompts the reader to adopt some of the group's views by forcing "the individual to reconsider normative methods of approaching the content". She states that the group attempts to "strip references of their original meaning without necessarily losing their status as icons". Kirby also sees the Church's goal as deconstructing "normative modes of thought and behavior" in American culture; she believes that it attempts to fight culturally ingrained thought patterns by shocking people. She argues that traditional approaches to religion cast seriousness as a measure of devotion, an approach she believes has failed in contemporary society. She feels that irony is a common value that most religions have ignored. By embracing the quality, she maintains, the Church of the SubGenius offers a more accessible worldview than many groups. Literature scholar Paul Mann of Pomona College is critical of the Church of the SubGenius. He notes that the Church purports to present the truth through absurdity and faults it for insufficiently examining the concept of truth itself. In addition, he believes that the group undermines its attempts to take a radical perspective with its "hysterical, literal, fantastic embrace" of criticism. Anarchist writer Bob Black, a former member, has criticized the Church, alleging that it has become conformist and submissive to authority. He believes that although it initially served to satirize cults, it later took on some of