There was a time when I thought rastas/rastafarianism was one of the coolest things ever, but somehow now I see it as terminally uncool. I don't know how that happened. I'm not saying I saw the light, I think I've gone astray.
I really like the lester bangs article about visiting Jamaica and trying to lose himself in the rastafarian ritual and failing. And how he gets across that people see them as these gentle hippies but they're actually fundamentalists.
There's obviously a powerful attraction to western cultureless people like me in something as fervent as rastafarianism - but also it's the fact the music is amazing and you get to smoke weed all day.