My goals with this blog are mainly to speak about issues that interest me and to put forth my viewpoint. The original post explained the original name of this site, Varth Lokkur’s Wisdom, reflected this. However, as you may have noticed, I changed the name to Thorkell the Tall. My reasons for this, other than the obscurity of the term Varth Lokkur and my uncertainty as to its historical accuracy, is that I wanted to personalize this site, and myself. There is a blog, now defunct, call Charles Martel that was formed to discuss the issues of Islamification of the West. As I have researched into that issue, I grow more disturbed by what I see happening. It also inspired me to start something similar, but inherently different.
Thorkell the Tall was a Jomsviking Jarl during the reign of King Cnut the Great of Denmark. If you haven’t heard of him, I won’t be surprised, though both men appear in the excellent manga Vinland Saga.( http://www.onemanga.com/Vinland_Saga/ ) Thorkell is portrayed to be a pagan, if not a very religious one, in the series and I suspect he was one in life as well, as the full Christianization of the Norse had not yet occurred. I chose the name because he struck me as a man worthy of respect and of great power.
Power, I feel, that is needed more than ever.
We are quickly becoming a nation, nay a world, without heroes or myths. No sooner does a celebrity or athlete achieve greatness and fame than they are dragged through the mud and defamed. Our culture teaches equality for everyone, but the problem with equality is that no one can rise above his fellow man. It is wrong to insist that because of a man’s skin he is superior or inferior. Society preaches this, but all I often see is the inverse of old systems. Perhaps it is the final, fullest transformation of the Christian philosophy appearing, devoid of god but filled with entitlement and reverse superiority, where the weak are the greatest, the meek hold the power, and the slave owns the master. The hero becomes the villain, and the villain the victim, and the victim is forgotten. I see it in murder cases on the news, where the police are vilified, the murder is decried as the “Victim of Society,” and the only thing you hear about the victim is that their dead. No matter how horrible their death was, or how long it took, or what was done to them, there’s always an excuse and cries of pity for their killer who fell through the cracks of society, who was discriminated against because of his skin color, as if this somehow justifies their act. And the police who arrest them, or patrol the streets, are the villains who perpetrate this evil society.
As a pagan, if not a very religious one, I look at this and wonder what the end result will be. Paganism is about balance, Order and Chaos, Love and Hate, War and Peace, each thing both opposite and the same, each one just as good, noble, honorable, and desirable as the other. But our world is all about an imbalance now. Love, don’t hate (except to hate those who think differently from the liberal, because it’s okay to hate white racists, and heterosexuals that think homosexuality is wrong, and Men because Women have been oppressed). Peace, not War (but it’s okay for others to wage war against us, because we are the evil West, that imperial demon that spread the ideas of equality, democracy, and freedom). Order, but not Chaos (but you can use it to strike against “racists,” “Homophobes,” and other “undesirable peoples” who embody the Western Way and fight the over regulation of society).
In the end, an imbalance cannot hold except by a fierce grip on the reins of power. This society will collapse and something will take its place. What will it look like? I don’t know, but I doubt it will be something pleasant, especially for the pagans.
If the powers that be, who strive against the traditional Scandinavian and Germanic values of Europe, win we may see something like Soviet Russia, but out of all the options I see I doubt it would last very long. A hundred years, at most, before the center fell out. Charismatic leaders die, and those that follow are too weak and things fall apart, or too strong and tear everything apart in their greed. Undoubtedly though, any form of religion will be crushed as bad for society, and European Paganism will fall faster that Christianity
We could see a resurgence in die hard Christianity; Catholic, Protestant, or both. If this happens, little will change in the long run, but in the short run we’ll see a backlash against the Liberal Left and those that stand with it, or simply stand against Christian values. What this means for Homosexuals I can’t say, though they’ll probably have it easiest since the can go back in the proverbial closet, and most will if their lives are on the line. Where I’m primarily concerned is for the Pagan and Heathen peoples, who will no doubt get labeled with the same brush we’ve always been: Devil worshipers who need to be cleansed from this earth in order to bring about God’s divine grace. It will most likely be a world bathed in blood. This will only grow as the Christians turn to face their long time enemy; Islam.
Should people like the blogger Charles Martel, or more properly the folks at Gates of Vienna are correct about the threat of Islam in the west (which I can attest to as a historian) and they succeed where Liberalism and Christianity fall, the end result will be the worst yet. With Liberalism and Christianity, we would see limited rights for those who belonged to the appropriate groups, but with Islam we would see an almost complete lack of rights for everyone. All the progress modern society has made would undoubtedly be lost in the initial fury of take over and power consolidation. Women, who can go topless on a beach and expect to be safe, or walk down the street with their hair in the wind and showing off their skin to everyone and not worry about being attacked, will either have to cover themselves as women do in the Arabia, or face rape and attack as they do in Sweden, from the men around them. Men, who may speak their minds and pray to whatever gods they wish, will be forced to kneel before Allah or die violently. The very things Women’s lib screams about will be true, and there will be no one who can protest. Everyone will lose their freedoms. The Pagan and Heathen will be hunted down and destroyed, our culture rubbed out of existence, and no hope of ever rediscovering our ancestral ways will be left to us or our children, should they even be born.
In the face of this almost insane future, where do we stand? What can we do, as Pagan, Heathen, Norse, Germanic, and Celt, do to protect our future, our children’s future, and the legacy of our ancestors? Is there any hope at all for the Asatru, Wiccan, and others?
There is one. It is a fool’s hope, a fool’s dream, of power and legacy and what might be a fight that will end only in our deaths and loss of everything we ever are, were, and could be.
We fight back.
Not with swords and guns, though I won’t rule out that in the end that might be our only recourse, but with information and without fear. If what I see as being most likely to happen is true, then we are already dead, but then we were dead the day we were born and as Pagan and Heathen we need not fear death. For the Asatru, the afterlife is known and we need not fear it. We, as Europeans, must reach out to our brothers and sisters and let them know the ways of their people. We must instill in ourselves and our children Pride, Strength, Power, and the will to use and guide themselves and others. If the patterns of Multiculturalism continue to the point where they wipe out everything European, we lose and Islam will take over. If Christianity wins, we lose, and will face another thousand years of witch hunts, Verdens, and death. If Islam wins, we’ll face even worse than we will with the Christians.
Only if we can obtain significant numbers do we stand a chance. I’m not advocating going door to door, being Odin’s Witnesses or anything like that. But we can print books, join together to produce movies and music that tell of our epic past and our potentially heroic future, that spread our ideas just as powerfully as any Conservative or Liberal organization. We must move outside of politics and political parties that exist. I know many Pagans are Liberal, and some are Conservative, but the ideals of paganism can be found in both parties, and ideas that are abhorrent to us can be found in both as well. We can start families that don’t buy into the 2.3 kids mentality. One of the ways hard core Christianity is going to have its chance in the future is because they breed like rabbits, the same with Islam. In any governance system, the ideology with the most bodies is the one that rules. We need bodies, to put it crudely, that believe men and women are both containers of sacred, ancient power. We must accept that there are gender roles, but that those they are old and viewed as misogynistic or misandric, once we realize the root of them, they explain how to use that sacred power within ourselves. Modern society places too much emphasis on who is on the front lines and forgets those in the back ground. They focused on the male soldier and said he got all the glory, as if he alone was responsible for winning, never thinking that for every man on the metaphysical and literal field of battle there was a woman, a family, back home supplying and supporting him who were far more important. The fighter jet might make the kills, but without the dozens of people in the hanger who keep it running, it is little more than scrap metal.
This is what we must realize. Without children (lots of them), and adult who join us in our heritage, Heathens and Pagans will be wiped out one more. Because, in a very real sense, there is a war going on over who will control this world. It has existence sense the dawn of time and will until the stars fall from the sky.
If it comes to it, we must be willing and capable of fighting on all levels. I would rather not see it be a last stand, but it if is, if we are truly facing the end of Europe and Paganism and the heritage and progress we’ve made because of it, I would rather die as the Three Hundred Spartans and my Viking ancestors, fighting to defend our very lives and heritage from Eastern Ways, than to kneel down, accept their terms, and lose my head.
McNallen of the AFA has a quote: “The Existence of My People Will Not Be Denied.
I would offer this one: “Victory or Valhalla.”
Thorkell the Tall
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Rejection for Reclimation Part 1
My intention this post is to speak of rejection. Namely, the rejection of “Old Values” for “New Values.” If this sounds familiar, it is because I’m pulling from Nietzsche on this one. With the growing movement to paganism in this and other countries, small though it may yet be in comparison to the major religions of Islam, Christianity, and Buddhism. I am speaking mainly from my knowledge of Scando/Germanic paganism, rather than the new age, in relation to pagan values.
Many people, namely those in Asatru, entering the pagan religions speak of reclaiming our past heritage. This is good and noble and I support it, but there is something I wish to say, not in criticism, but in the spirit of kinship with those who are on this same journey. Before we can reclaim our past heritage, before we can return to the Gods and Goddess of old, we must first reject the current and modern values system completely and utterly. If we do not, we shall run into the same problems in our Pagan/Heathen was that we have in society now.
This will not be an easy process. It can and will take years to do. It will be violent, painful, terrible, and horrifying. You will learn things about yourself that you never thought you could be capable of. You will see the ultimate monster of what you can become. Everything you are told by society, religion, and government that is bad and evil lives inside you, and if you are to come to a full understanding of yourself and the trust nature of the pagan religions, you’re going to have to face it, acknowledge it, and embrace it. But, if you can, you’ll become a greater person for it. I know, because I speak from personal experience of my own journey into Norse Paganism.
The first of these rejections one must accomplish is the concept of Good and Evil. This may seem impossible, as it underscores the very foundations of our society. Our world is built on the Good/Evil dichotomy. It is the foundation of our laws, our morality, almost everything. We define our world in terms of Good/Evil. Racism is Evil. Greed is Evil. Charity is Good. Love is Good. Hatred is Evil. So on and so forth. Spend five minutes or five hours and you can still come up with more examples. To imagine a world without Good or Evil boggles the mind and society views anyone who can accomplish this as psychologically ill most of the time. Why then, do I say this must be done?
The answer is simple. The Western concept of Good and Evil comes from Christianity, or Judeo-Christianity depending on who is talking. (My local expert in Judaism insists the two are nothing a alike.) Christianity, on its most basic level, is the complete opposite of Norse/Scandinavian/Germanic Paganism. My research into the Norse/Germanic society has shown that the culture was based on an Honor/Shame system, not a Good/Evil system. In the Saga of the Volsungs, a killing is only murder when it is concealed. When one killed other out in the open, in an honorable manner, it was viewed as socially acceptable. Indeed, the entire Good/Evil complex is hypocritical on a basic level. Permit me to explain, using the examples above.
Love is Good. This is a fundamental tenant of Christianity. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Give charity out of love, for it is good. Yet, in this same religion, sex is viewed as evil, inextricably linked with the original sin. The ultimate physical expression of the emotion we know as love, which is good, is Evil! Homosexual love = Evil! Pedophilia = Evil! Bestiality = Evil! Bisexual love = Evil! Polygamy = Evil! On its most base, physical, and in some cases metaphysical level Love is Evil! (I do not support pedophilia or bestiality).
Mind blowing, isn’t it. Any form of love, outside of the “norm” demanded by Christianity, which is the basis behind both the conservative and liberal movements in American politics, is Evil. (I will explain this further another time.)
Let us continue onto the opposite of Love; Hatred. According to Christianity, we are taught that Hatred is Evil. Yet, immediately there is a problem. Christianity teaches that people should hate Evil. Instantly, we have a paradox. It goes even further. Anything falling outside the religion is Evil. This is true of Christianity and Islam. Paganism is Evil and thus is to be Hated and destroyed (Generally for the benefit of the infidel souls that must be saved, even if it means killing them in the process). The paradox, to destroy Evil, one must commit Evil, but by doing it in the name of Good, one is by de facto being Good. This has exposed itself time in again with Crusades, Jihads, and the systematic hunting down and killing of millions of Heathens, Pagans, Witches, Wizards, Alchemists, Homosexuals, and too many others to name. This also exposes itself in the political arenas, but that is for another time. It is also the basis for the Modern concept of Racism.
Now, what about the Honor/Shame system? Well, it works in much the opposite. Take Charity for instance. Charity is Good, sacrificing from oneself for another is Good. Yet, by the Honor/shame system, Charity can be both good and bad (Good/Bad being different from Good/Evil, in that Good/Bad is based on the outcome for the individual or group performing the deed, rather than any moral sense.) I shall give a personalized example, the recent crisis in Haiti. Now, no one can argue that giving charity to Haiti is Evil, but rather it is Good. Fair enough. But is giving Charity to Haiti Honorable or Shameful. This is far trickier to answer. On the one hand, Norse/Germanic culture did indeed have charity and gift giving. Indeed, the meats and other foods sacrificed to the gods were often giving to the poor and destitute peoples of a clan/tribe and this was considered very Honorable. Now, where can charity be shameful? Yes, when one gives charity to a person outside one’s tribe while members of one’s people are in need and you can help them.
How many people here in America need help feeding and housing themselves? I’m not talking about White/Europeans. I mean everyone, Black/White/Yellow/Red/etc. In this sense, horrid though it may sound, it is shameful to give charity to Haiti. There are people here in America that need help and yet our Government is digging us deeper in debt to give aid to Haiti and ignoring our own citizens. A perhaps even better example is Oprah’s school. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of Black children who are failing out of school or not even going. Yet, instead of helping her own race here in America, Oprah opens a school on a completely different continent. It isn’t that African children don’t need schools, they do, it is just that there are children not a hundred miles from Oprah that need one, who are citizens of this country and of her own people.
You may not agree with me, which is fair. I don’t expect you to. It’s a lot to take in. You might even consider it Evil, horrible, or inhuman. I’d be surprised if you didn’t. We are conditioned to believe that way.
This is why I say the first rejection; indeed the very foundations of rejections need to be made before one who wishes to truly embark on a journey into paganism, is to remove the Good/Evil dichotomy from your very soul. There is no action that cannot be morally justified under religion if take in the name of that religion. Be it Dehumanization, Racism, Rape, Murder, all these and more. I know this, because it has been done a million times by a million people in ever era of human history.
Only by rejecting it can we get over the self hatred that fills every part of western society. While my words are meant for those seeking a return to their Western European roots like those in Asatru, these words are applicable to all peoples. Honor and Shame will let us deal with each other, if not as equals, at least as honest peoples worthy of respect.
By embracing the Honor/Shame system, we permit ourselves to return to a system of Nobility. Nobility exists beyond Good and Evil. It sees what is Just, what is Powerful, what is best for the person living a Noble life, and for the people who follow that Noble Individual. It permits each Man, each Woman, to become even more than they were, to remove the limitations of Good/Evil and to make us something, to Quote Nietzsche once more, Beyond Good and Evil.
It can make us human.
Many people, namely those in Asatru, entering the pagan religions speak of reclaiming our past heritage. This is good and noble and I support it, but there is something I wish to say, not in criticism, but in the spirit of kinship with those who are on this same journey. Before we can reclaim our past heritage, before we can return to the Gods and Goddess of old, we must first reject the current and modern values system completely and utterly. If we do not, we shall run into the same problems in our Pagan/Heathen was that we have in society now.
This will not be an easy process. It can and will take years to do. It will be violent, painful, terrible, and horrifying. You will learn things about yourself that you never thought you could be capable of. You will see the ultimate monster of what you can become. Everything you are told by society, religion, and government that is bad and evil lives inside you, and if you are to come to a full understanding of yourself and the trust nature of the pagan religions, you’re going to have to face it, acknowledge it, and embrace it. But, if you can, you’ll become a greater person for it. I know, because I speak from personal experience of my own journey into Norse Paganism.
The first of these rejections one must accomplish is the concept of Good and Evil. This may seem impossible, as it underscores the very foundations of our society. Our world is built on the Good/Evil dichotomy. It is the foundation of our laws, our morality, almost everything. We define our world in terms of Good/Evil. Racism is Evil. Greed is Evil. Charity is Good. Love is Good. Hatred is Evil. So on and so forth. Spend five minutes or five hours and you can still come up with more examples. To imagine a world without Good or Evil boggles the mind and society views anyone who can accomplish this as psychologically ill most of the time. Why then, do I say this must be done?
The answer is simple. The Western concept of Good and Evil comes from Christianity, or Judeo-Christianity depending on who is talking. (My local expert in Judaism insists the two are nothing a alike.) Christianity, on its most basic level, is the complete opposite of Norse/Scandinavian/Germanic Paganism. My research into the Norse/Germanic society has shown that the culture was based on an Honor/Shame system, not a Good/Evil system. In the Saga of the Volsungs, a killing is only murder when it is concealed. When one killed other out in the open, in an honorable manner, it was viewed as socially acceptable. Indeed, the entire Good/Evil complex is hypocritical on a basic level. Permit me to explain, using the examples above.
Love is Good. This is a fundamental tenant of Christianity. Love thy neighbor as thyself. Give charity out of love, for it is good. Yet, in this same religion, sex is viewed as evil, inextricably linked with the original sin. The ultimate physical expression of the emotion we know as love, which is good, is Evil! Homosexual love = Evil! Pedophilia = Evil! Bestiality = Evil! Bisexual love = Evil! Polygamy = Evil! On its most base, physical, and in some cases metaphysical level Love is Evil! (I do not support pedophilia or bestiality).
Mind blowing, isn’t it. Any form of love, outside of the “norm” demanded by Christianity, which is the basis behind both the conservative and liberal movements in American politics, is Evil. (I will explain this further another time.)
Let us continue onto the opposite of Love; Hatred. According to Christianity, we are taught that Hatred is Evil. Yet, immediately there is a problem. Christianity teaches that people should hate Evil. Instantly, we have a paradox. It goes even further. Anything falling outside the religion is Evil. This is true of Christianity and Islam. Paganism is Evil and thus is to be Hated and destroyed (Generally for the benefit of the infidel souls that must be saved, even if it means killing them in the process). The paradox, to destroy Evil, one must commit Evil, but by doing it in the name of Good, one is by de facto being Good. This has exposed itself time in again with Crusades, Jihads, and the systematic hunting down and killing of millions of Heathens, Pagans, Witches, Wizards, Alchemists, Homosexuals, and too many others to name. This also exposes itself in the political arenas, but that is for another time. It is also the basis for the Modern concept of Racism.
Now, what about the Honor/Shame system? Well, it works in much the opposite. Take Charity for instance. Charity is Good, sacrificing from oneself for another is Good. Yet, by the Honor/shame system, Charity can be both good and bad (Good/Bad being different from Good/Evil, in that Good/Bad is based on the outcome for the individual or group performing the deed, rather than any moral sense.) I shall give a personalized example, the recent crisis in Haiti. Now, no one can argue that giving charity to Haiti is Evil, but rather it is Good. Fair enough. But is giving Charity to Haiti Honorable or Shameful. This is far trickier to answer. On the one hand, Norse/Germanic culture did indeed have charity and gift giving. Indeed, the meats and other foods sacrificed to the gods were often giving to the poor and destitute peoples of a clan/tribe and this was considered very Honorable. Now, where can charity be shameful? Yes, when one gives charity to a person outside one’s tribe while members of one’s people are in need and you can help them.
How many people here in America need help feeding and housing themselves? I’m not talking about White/Europeans. I mean everyone, Black/White/Yellow/Red/etc. In this sense, horrid though it may sound, it is shameful to give charity to Haiti. There are people here in America that need help and yet our Government is digging us deeper in debt to give aid to Haiti and ignoring our own citizens. A perhaps even better example is Oprah’s school. There are hundreds, maybe even thousands of Black children who are failing out of school or not even going. Yet, instead of helping her own race here in America, Oprah opens a school on a completely different continent. It isn’t that African children don’t need schools, they do, it is just that there are children not a hundred miles from Oprah that need one, who are citizens of this country and of her own people.
You may not agree with me, which is fair. I don’t expect you to. It’s a lot to take in. You might even consider it Evil, horrible, or inhuman. I’d be surprised if you didn’t. We are conditioned to believe that way.
This is why I say the first rejection; indeed the very foundations of rejections need to be made before one who wishes to truly embark on a journey into paganism, is to remove the Good/Evil dichotomy from your very soul. There is no action that cannot be morally justified under religion if take in the name of that religion. Be it Dehumanization, Racism, Rape, Murder, all these and more. I know this, because it has been done a million times by a million people in ever era of human history.
Only by rejecting it can we get over the self hatred that fills every part of western society. While my words are meant for those seeking a return to their Western European roots like those in Asatru, these words are applicable to all peoples. Honor and Shame will let us deal with each other, if not as equals, at least as honest peoples worthy of respect.
By embracing the Honor/Shame system, we permit ourselves to return to a system of Nobility. Nobility exists beyond Good and Evil. It sees what is Just, what is Powerful, what is best for the person living a Noble life, and for the people who follow that Noble Individual. It permits each Man, each Woman, to become even more than they were, to remove the limitations of Good/Evil and to make us something, to Quote Nietzsche once more, Beyond Good and Evil.
It can make us human.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Of Tolerance and Intolerance
Life is filled with many paradoxes today, though I feel that since the last election they have only grown starker. With calls for Universal Healthcare to dealing with Climate Change/Global Warming, we have become more and more polarized. The fact that the current president of the United States is black/African American only increases this, with some people being afraid to say what they wish for fear of being called racist and others eagerly calling those who disagree with the President’s ideas out as racists.
Daily, we are bombarded with the idea that we must accept people, that we must be tolerant. We are told not to hate people because they are black, or Hispanic, or GLBT, and that these people are owed the rights that have been kept from them over the years. Fine by me, the more freedoms we have the better. Over the years I have gone from a person who was freaked out by the idea of Gay people to someone who views it as just another part of the world. As for that ever so lovable topic of Gay marriage, marriage was a social contract long ago, an oath before Gods and Men (this including their female counterparts in both the divine and mortal). If Gay people wish to be married, let them.
Yet, there is a rather shocking element to modern Tolerance: Intolerance. Try protesting Gay marriage or homosexuality and you’ll be called a Homophobe, if not worse, and often face allegations that you are secretly gay and that’s why you’re so hateful to The Cause. Personally, I find the idea rather laughable, mostly because I believe a person is fully capable of hating something without secretly wanting to be it, but more on that another time. I admit to being a little weirded out by Gay men, but I freely admit that is mostly because I’m a rather blunt person and if one hit on me I can’t promise I’d be politically correct. I’ve been informed that this is not something I have to worry about as Gay men don’t hit on obviously straight men. Beyond that I have the attitude of live and let live. Lesbians are cool in my book. Bisexuals I can actually understand. I personally, am straight.
Back to the topic marriage, namely who can and can’t be married. For example, raise the idea of polygamy and see what happens. I once wrote a paper on the subject and in my research discovered that it wasn’t people like the Mormons who are on the frontier of the Polygamous movement, but rather Bisexuals. It makes sense, when you like both sexes, why not have one of each for a life partner/spouse. I actually hold that entered into with the proper mindset and understanding, polygamy is possibly a more stable form of marriage than monogamy. My research, though old now, indicated that this had presented the Gay community with a paradox: Support the widening of marriage to include polygamy, one of the most hated forms of marriage, or stand with the traditionalists and insist that marriage should be between only two individuals. I don’t know if this has been resolved in the years since then, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that it has.
Probably the most relevant and dangerous subject of this concept though, is Race. Nowhere else are people so polarized, so demanding, so judgmental, as in the area of Racism. Let’s be honest, there is a great deal of power to be had in Racism. Now, I do not hold with Racism, it is a stupid way to judge people and divide them. I prefer measuring a man or woman based on their character, accomplishments, and their strength. This is a rather Pagan way of doing things, but then I am rather Pagan. I am an Ethnicitist, thought that means believing people should take pride in their Ethnic backgrounds, regardless of skin color.
Yet here is where the intolerance lies strongest. If a Black person speaks of White Oppression, that White’ control all the banks, all the corporations, and so on, while calling for a change in power from Whites to another racial group that is being oppressed, no one declares them a racist. This has actually happened in front of me, in a civil rights class. It happened in other classes I’ve have which dealt with racism. We are to be tolerant of all men, but I’ll admit I’ve faced intolerance because of my race. While it is true that there is a majority of Whites in positions of power, one must realize that it is simply an effect of Whites having had access for longer. Give it another hundred years at most, without messing with the system, and you’ll probably see an fairly even ratio of all races. Heck, we have a black president, so Whites can’t have all that much power, or at least be using it to keep the minorities down. Studies have been conducted to show that Whites will soon be a minority in this country. Make of that what you will.
It strikes me as so strange that in an age of tolerance, people can be so intolerant. What makes it stranger for me is that I am a rather intolerant person. I despise weakness, I have no tolerance for people who whine about the oppression of decades or centuries passed. I find things like Hate Crimes and their laws abhorrent. I’m not really a fan of affirmative action. Yet, I ask, before you angrily click away, you permit me to explain.
Every race, ethnicity, creed, or ideology and its followers, has been oppressed. My own people, the Norse, had our culture, our gods, and our holy places destroyed by a group of religious fanatics who wanted to “Save our Souls.” It is only in the recent past that people have been able to reclaim our lost ways. Yet every day, we face people saying ours is a false religious, not worthy of the rights of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or Judaism. Sometimes, we are called racist, because a few misguided souls.
I hate racism, because of what it does to people of all colors. The reason I don’t like things like Hate Crime Laws and Affirmative Action, is because it carries on the idea of racism and promotes it. Affirmative Action was meant to give minorities, namely Blacks, a chance to get into places that they had previously been barred from, like universities and businesses. It was noble idea and one that was needed in some ways. Yet over the years it has been used to give people jobs not based on merit, but on skin color. Hate Crimes create special classes of protected citizens, in effect creating racial and sexual elites. Few people complain about this because the “Elite” of today is the inverse of the “Elite” of yester year. I side with those who declare all crimes acts of hate and don’t see why we need to specially declare something a hateful crime.
While the words of the law may not discriminate, their use does. I have yet to hear of a group of black people tried for committing a hate crime against a white person, though I have read of cases where it is clearly deserved. Nor have I heard of a case where GLBT individuals were charged with a hate crime against a Heterosexual person. Our society functions on the idea that all people are equal. This means that everyone is equally capable of hatred as they are of love, malice as well as kindness, regardless of skin or gender. To say otherwise is to indicate that there are people who are racially or sexually superior to others.
The irony or our day is this. We are an Tolerant Nation that practices Intolerance. The irony of myself is that I and a rather Intolerant person, who lives a life of Tolerance. I judge, when the world says I shouldn’t and I don’t judge, when the world says I should. Maybe this makes me a bad person, maybe not. That answer is not for me to decide. However, before you decide for me, know that in judging you may be violating the very principle of tolerance you are taught to live by.
Daily, we are bombarded with the idea that we must accept people, that we must be tolerant. We are told not to hate people because they are black, or Hispanic, or GLBT, and that these people are owed the rights that have been kept from them over the years. Fine by me, the more freedoms we have the better. Over the years I have gone from a person who was freaked out by the idea of Gay people to someone who views it as just another part of the world. As for that ever so lovable topic of Gay marriage, marriage was a social contract long ago, an oath before Gods and Men (this including their female counterparts in both the divine and mortal). If Gay people wish to be married, let them.
Yet, there is a rather shocking element to modern Tolerance: Intolerance. Try protesting Gay marriage or homosexuality and you’ll be called a Homophobe, if not worse, and often face allegations that you are secretly gay and that’s why you’re so hateful to The Cause. Personally, I find the idea rather laughable, mostly because I believe a person is fully capable of hating something without secretly wanting to be it, but more on that another time. I admit to being a little weirded out by Gay men, but I freely admit that is mostly because I’m a rather blunt person and if one hit on me I can’t promise I’d be politically correct. I’ve been informed that this is not something I have to worry about as Gay men don’t hit on obviously straight men. Beyond that I have the attitude of live and let live. Lesbians are cool in my book. Bisexuals I can actually understand. I personally, am straight.
Back to the topic marriage, namely who can and can’t be married. For example, raise the idea of polygamy and see what happens. I once wrote a paper on the subject and in my research discovered that it wasn’t people like the Mormons who are on the frontier of the Polygamous movement, but rather Bisexuals. It makes sense, when you like both sexes, why not have one of each for a life partner/spouse. I actually hold that entered into with the proper mindset and understanding, polygamy is possibly a more stable form of marriage than monogamy. My research, though old now, indicated that this had presented the Gay community with a paradox: Support the widening of marriage to include polygamy, one of the most hated forms of marriage, or stand with the traditionalists and insist that marriage should be between only two individuals. I don’t know if this has been resolved in the years since then, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate that it has.
Probably the most relevant and dangerous subject of this concept though, is Race. Nowhere else are people so polarized, so demanding, so judgmental, as in the area of Racism. Let’s be honest, there is a great deal of power to be had in Racism. Now, I do not hold with Racism, it is a stupid way to judge people and divide them. I prefer measuring a man or woman based on their character, accomplishments, and their strength. This is a rather Pagan way of doing things, but then I am rather Pagan. I am an Ethnicitist, thought that means believing people should take pride in their Ethnic backgrounds, regardless of skin color.
Yet here is where the intolerance lies strongest. If a Black person speaks of White Oppression, that White’ control all the banks, all the corporations, and so on, while calling for a change in power from Whites to another racial group that is being oppressed, no one declares them a racist. This has actually happened in front of me, in a civil rights class. It happened in other classes I’ve have which dealt with racism. We are to be tolerant of all men, but I’ll admit I’ve faced intolerance because of my race. While it is true that there is a majority of Whites in positions of power, one must realize that it is simply an effect of Whites having had access for longer. Give it another hundred years at most, without messing with the system, and you’ll probably see an fairly even ratio of all races. Heck, we have a black president, so Whites can’t have all that much power, or at least be using it to keep the minorities down. Studies have been conducted to show that Whites will soon be a minority in this country. Make of that what you will.
It strikes me as so strange that in an age of tolerance, people can be so intolerant. What makes it stranger for me is that I am a rather intolerant person. I despise weakness, I have no tolerance for people who whine about the oppression of decades or centuries passed. I find things like Hate Crimes and their laws abhorrent. I’m not really a fan of affirmative action. Yet, I ask, before you angrily click away, you permit me to explain.
Every race, ethnicity, creed, or ideology and its followers, has been oppressed. My own people, the Norse, had our culture, our gods, and our holy places destroyed by a group of religious fanatics who wanted to “Save our Souls.” It is only in the recent past that people have been able to reclaim our lost ways. Yet every day, we face people saying ours is a false religious, not worthy of the rights of Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, or Judaism. Sometimes, we are called racist, because a few misguided souls.
I hate racism, because of what it does to people of all colors. The reason I don’t like things like Hate Crime Laws and Affirmative Action, is because it carries on the idea of racism and promotes it. Affirmative Action was meant to give minorities, namely Blacks, a chance to get into places that they had previously been barred from, like universities and businesses. It was noble idea and one that was needed in some ways. Yet over the years it has been used to give people jobs not based on merit, but on skin color. Hate Crimes create special classes of protected citizens, in effect creating racial and sexual elites. Few people complain about this because the “Elite” of today is the inverse of the “Elite” of yester year. I side with those who declare all crimes acts of hate and don’t see why we need to specially declare something a hateful crime.
While the words of the law may not discriminate, their use does. I have yet to hear of a group of black people tried for committing a hate crime against a white person, though I have read of cases where it is clearly deserved. Nor have I heard of a case where GLBT individuals were charged with a hate crime against a Heterosexual person. Our society functions on the idea that all people are equal. This means that everyone is equally capable of hatred as they are of love, malice as well as kindness, regardless of skin or gender. To say otherwise is to indicate that there are people who are racially or sexually superior to others.
The irony or our day is this. We are an Tolerant Nation that practices Intolerance. The irony of myself is that I and a rather Intolerant person, who lives a life of Tolerance. I judge, when the world says I shouldn’t and I don’t judge, when the world says I should. Maybe this makes me a bad person, maybe not. That answer is not for me to decide. However, before you decide for me, know that in judging you may be violating the very principle of tolerance you are taught to live by.
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