Most Distressing....

[mdehners]

Is my like of distress at the thought of an EOTWAWKI event. I mean, when I was a yung'n, I marched against War, Bigotry, Disease, etc. Now, I've turned into the old Poop that's ready for the Regin to push "Reset"....
I guess part of it is that I've a lot of friends who have kids college age and having to "deal" with the consequences of them being more friend than parent. After all, a friend helps you out, a parent teaches you to do it yourself....or is supposed to. Sadly, even the best parent has to "deal" with the fact that they aren't the only influence. Truth is, things have been too good too long and combining that with parenting that's affaid of children not being Happy and Sated Emotionally and Physically 24/7....things are pretty bad. Hopefully, this Downturn will last long enough to teach them that the only thing you get from Nothing IS NOTHING....no matter what your parents pretended at you.
I really can't watch news anymore. Watching the Progressives shoot themselves down reminds me too many times of friends who thought that if you just explain why YHVH couldn't have created the world in 4004 BC that Fundys'd change their entire world-view. There's a difference between Innocence and Ignorance and watching Progressives make the same mistakes 3 decades running(that I've been Paying Attention) just gives me Gas. It doesn't "help" that some of our Progressive "religious" don't have truly any deeply held Beliefs. I certainly can't see any of them that would be Willing to Die for their Spiritual Beliefs, something our Opposition would have no problem doing so. Truth is that this is one of the areas where the JCI Beleivers tend to Ignore those in the West of Alt Religions BECAUSE they consider it a Sign that we really don't Beleive what we say. What I've always got a "kick" out of is the "outrage" that some folks get about how the Ancestors "abandoned" the God/desses, yet most of them wouldn't even declare themselves a _____ in a Progressive city. For them to look down on their Ancestors when they themselves are so Cowardly......
Truth,
Pat

Comments

[weofodthignen]

Good point. They have one too, about family. Family is important to us. We don't have a god who said "Leave your family and follow me." But what are they shielding their kids from, the truth? If they raise their kids heathen, I will grant them quite a lot.

At the other end of things, I've met people so wrapped up in the progressive mindset that they can't believe one can lose a job or get on a blacklist for being heathen. Sadly, one very much can. I'm glad so many are unaware of it - it's a mark of how much things have changed. And you're less likely to get actually killed than an openly gay person. But still, we do not live in cloud cuckoo land.

Disjointed thoughts, sorry. I should be in bed.

M

[mdehners]

I've personally never run into anyone who has actually been fired because of their Heathenry or Paganism. A few that say that's the reason but IME weren't. The ones I knew of were cultural, not religious. There is nothing in Heathenry or Paganism per se that REQUIRES you to have:
Facial Tatts(unless you're a Folkish Maori)
Facial Piercings
Facial Hair(male OR Female)
Clothing requirements(or Nudity outside of a Ritual space for some...not at work)
Hairstyles(the Regin don't turn from you if you cut your hair or wash it...)
and many others. In all the cases where i knew of someone losing their jobs it wasn't their religion, it was their particualr sub-culture's fashion-sense. The quintisential was a lady who gave a speech at a Queer Spirit gathering with facial Tatts and Piercings,regular Tatts, half her head shaved and always wore a leather corset whose "Proof" was that a chain restaurant refused to hire her unless she "dressed within the company standards". While she was an Eclectic Wiccan, there is NOTHING in ANY form of Wicca that makes you dress and modify your body as such. That is something her particular sub-culture of Humanity may but it has NOTHING to do with Modern Paganism, Wicca or Heathenry...
Truth,
Pat

[weofodthignen]

LOL yeah that's just ridiculous. And I have no objection to normally keeping my hammer concealed; I object to the blatant display of crucifixes, stars of David, and chais so I tend to not inflict it on people anyway. Though I did like to display a heathen bumpersticker or window decal on my vehicle and now have the latter on my bedroom window, although it's sadly almost invisible. One of the nice things about this area is the number of FSM and Darwin car magnets and even though we're in the wrong part of the Bay Area to have many pagans, I do see the occasional pagan bumpersticker.

But I almost lost a job for telling my supervisor I was heathen--he was Jewish and I had to do a fast bit of educating and remind him of my former jobs at Jewish colleges and agencies to prove my bona fides. We may have nominal religious freedom here in the US, but you and I both know it's not actual. And some people still do work for religious colleges and agencies. In Canada, Asatru is officially on the list of subversive organizations; I don't doubt it's on plenty of Homeland Insecurity lists too, and the situation is not helped by that Swedish guy's book and its constant rehashing in the press when some prison-tru comes to their attention. It's not being hysterical about the "Burning Times" to recognize that bias is going to happen more and more in this depression, which is already causing people to get laid off without a stated reason. Being pagan or especially heathen is another "cut of one's jib" for bosses who want to get rid of people to use to pick a victim. Maybe in some corners, we can build a reputation for being good employees because of our hard work and trustworthiness, but there are members of the heathen community who don't epitomize those virtues, and the confusion with eclectic pagans works against us in this respect. (Just the other day "Ginevra," whom I made the mistake of sharing the truth about my religion with years ago, asked me didn't "pagan" mean "goddess worshipper.")

Noil keeps urging me to be more circumspect, because there are real enemies everywhere. I try to pick a path that is neither an insult to the gods nor reckless endangerment. But yes, although I regard myself as a coward I feel ashamed of how big a coward I am being. Others will have to make their own decisions . . . although I do judge them adversely when they do things like get married in a church.

M

[mdehners]

I think the funniest "Insult" I ever got was someone at a festival when the Discrimination subject was in a forum was that I was so "Boring" that they(being the PTB's) didn't Bother. Generic Male Hair, neat mustache, appropriate work clothing, etc. Sure, I wore a small Penacle or Hammer but it didn't endanger patients by threatening to smack them if I bent over to pick something up;>. Honestly, I sometimes "cringed" if I heard I had a fellow Pagan/Wiccan/Heathen/etc where I worked because chances are they were the Flaky, Fluffy and Fantabulous-types that would demand all sorts of crap from Admin in the name of "Religion" and then have to explain to my boss why I'd been Working for them for yrs without them....
Truth is the only discrimination I actually had(as in being Fired) was because our company had been bought by a Christian one. The funny thing? The religion thing wasn't an issue since the Fundies consider it no more than playing D&D....just a game, not really a religion. 'Course, that's pretty much how many alt-rel folk treat their various Faiths and Deities...props in a LARP campaign.
Truth,
Pat