Fluffy
A recent comment posted to the Fyrnsidu e-group led into a (friendly) banter about "fluffy bunnies", including an amusing reference to the evil fanged bunny in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I almost posted something to the group, but I didn't want a personal peeve to spoil the fun.
So I'm going to throw the thought out here. If you're having fun at the moment and don't want to hear me bitchin', just move on.
I wish people would just stop using the word "fluffy". It was cute YEARS ago, but the humor has long since died and become a cold, stiff corpse. Now it's just a nonsense word that has no real meaning. Yes, I understand that if you say somebody is fluffy you're telling me that person does something or believes something you disagree with. These somethings could be anything, and you've told me, essentially, nothing.
You say: "Those people are so fluffy."
I hear: "Moooooo."
It's generally understood that fluffy implies a gentler, softer (duh) approach to Paganism. But in what way? What exactly are you saying, and how - exactly - is this approach incorrect? If you're one of the few who still suffer from the delusion that the Heathen folk of northern Europe did nothing but rape and kill, you need to pull that scramasax out of your ass and learn something about pre-industrial societies. OF COURSE the lore is filled with tales of war and battles. Are you a moron? Nobody wants to read an epic poem about a woman suckling her child, or a farmer tending his fields. But that's what most of our ancestors did most of the time. Gentle, fluffy things.
The word fluffy also implies a disregard for the lore and traditions of our ancestors but, again, there's no clarity here. If you have something to say, then say it. Or at least be consistent and apply the term to everyone who twists the lore to suit their own agendas. Like the people who drag their Christian homophobia into Heathenry and try to justify it with the most obscure references. That, to me, is fluffy. Get into a time machine and you'll almost surely find in your lineage a gay Uncle Æthelwulf who sucked dick. Get over it. (The backlash to this are the people who look for equally obscure references to prove that Gay Was Good, as if sexual orientation should need any justification in Pagan culture.)
If you don't like to hear somebody referring to Fréo as a (*choke*) "moon goddess", or claim that Friday was her sacred day, then say so specifically. Don't just call the person fluffy. You might as well call him a nigger. It makes just as much sense, and is just as much a stumbling block to any hope of meaningful dialogue.
Let's purge this word from our collective vocabulary.
So I'm going to throw the thought out here. If you're having fun at the moment and don't want to hear me bitchin', just move on.
I wish people would just stop using the word "fluffy". It was cute YEARS ago, but the humor has long since died and become a cold, stiff corpse. Now it's just a nonsense word that has no real meaning. Yes, I understand that if you say somebody is fluffy you're telling me that person does something or believes something you disagree with. These somethings could be anything, and you've told me, essentially, nothing.
You say: "Those people are so fluffy."
I hear: "Moooooo."
It's generally understood that fluffy implies a gentler, softer (duh) approach to Paganism. But in what way? What exactly are you saying, and how - exactly - is this approach incorrect? If you're one of the few who still suffer from the delusion that the Heathen folk of northern Europe did nothing but rape and kill, you need to pull that scramasax out of your ass and learn something about pre-industrial societies. OF COURSE the lore is filled with tales of war and battles. Are you a moron? Nobody wants to read an epic poem about a woman suckling her child, or a farmer tending his fields. But that's what most of our ancestors did most of the time. Gentle, fluffy things.
The word fluffy also implies a disregard for the lore and traditions of our ancestors but, again, there's no clarity here. If you have something to say, then say it. Or at least be consistent and apply the term to everyone who twists the lore to suit their own agendas. Like the people who drag their Christian homophobia into Heathenry and try to justify it with the most obscure references. That, to me, is fluffy. Get into a time machine and you'll almost surely find in your lineage a gay Uncle Æthelwulf who sucked dick. Get over it. (The backlash to this are the people who look for equally obscure references to prove that Gay Was Good, as if sexual orientation should need any justification in Pagan culture.)
If you don't like to hear somebody referring to Fréo as a (*choke*) "moon goddess", or claim that Friday was her sacred day, then say so specifically. Don't just call the person fluffy. You might as well call him a nigger. It makes just as much sense, and is just as much a stumbling block to any hope of meaningful dialogue.
Let's purge this word from our collective vocabulary.