Compromise

[heartofmoon]

I'm a really new heathen, but I have noticed all of the in-fighting going on. How could anyone miss it? I am sort of loathe to make this post, as it will likely make no difference, just as all of the other pleas I have seen for peace and unity don't seem to be doing that much, except perhaps to bring to light who does and does not wish for unity.

Comments

Re: Lest We Forget. The Jews Won't, Why Should We?

[weofodthignen]

Now now, let's not attack the asatruar community. They're heathens, and in fact the majority of us are also there. And in fairness, to some people goði/gyðja means "group leader," as it came to mean in Iceland. You need to deal with the Canadian heathens, cartoonmayhem; after all, you're married to one and you live there now :-) Although I suspect the people responding to you in that thread are assuming too much consensus among Canadians; I could name a couple or three crotchety Canadian heathens to make the point, but you already made that point by telling us about the past of your friend from Hamilton . . . :-)

I do have to say one thing. To Jews (and many others), comparisons to the Holocaust are deeply wounding. People being forcibly converted is a terrible thing. There was in fact a massacre of the Saxons by Charlemagne. Individual heathens were put to the sword for refusing to convert--or in one famous case, made to swallow a poisonous snake. But six million Jews? And I forget how many homosexuals, Roma, mentally and physically handicapped people, and black Germans? The comparison undermines the point, because it's piggy-backing on an atrocity that has a uniquely terrible place in history. I think you were again being "provocative" to "make people think" and "gauge the reaction." This is not a good thing to keep doing, especially on emotional topics like people's relationships to a religion that most of us have family and friends who practice. It doesn't promote good relations between heathens to try to shock people by saying provocative things, either. Heathens disagree about whether hating Xianity is legitimate, but the vast majority of us agree that proselytizing is at best condescending, uncivilized, and deplorably bad manners . . . and that the flip side of that is that everyone has the right to follow their own religion. Which includes devotés of the desert god, much though I personally detest the creep. There is after all a distinction between religions and the people who follow them--between heathenry and heathens, and between Xianity and Xians. Let's build on these agreements and not test each other with provocations, please.

Frith,
M

Re: Lest We Forget. The Jews Won't, Why Should We?

[freyaw]

I think you were again being "provocative" to "make people think" and "gauge the reaction."

And if one does nothing but, or even if only a significant portion of what one posts is 'provocative' like that, you'll end up getting two responses:

• Meh, another 'provocative' post, *skip*
• Another 'provocative' post, brains off, let's jump in and *flame*

Being always an attempt at 'making people think' will eventually cause people to stop listening. Generally, I find that people prefer their thinking in small, easily digested doses that they can take away and process, rather than being overwhelmed by what feels like a constant stream of nothing else.

Re: Lest We Forget. The Jews Won't, Why Should We?

[evergrey]

2 million homosexuals.
I did a report on it for my 11th grade history class.
My teacher didn't know about it at all. They didn't mention it at all in the textbooks, either.

PS, can we be done being mad at each other now? :o