From last night's bullshit: Thoughts on Hermes and consumerism

[chironcentaur]

It truly is amazing what you can say that starts shit on the internet. Its also amazing the way two people can twist everything you say around until you sound like the biggest asshole on the planet.

It started when I made an innocent comment that, while I won't argue that Hermes is a god with connections with technology and the internet, I don't

Comments

[bluedolfyn]

Er, yeah. I stand by my "people are stupid and they suck

[chironcentaur]

In my experience, more with Odin than with Loki but to an extent with them both, they often give you what you expect. That is, if they're not invested in you -- if you aren't theirs -- and you expect something shallow, something petty, something . . . I dunno. Less? -- well, then, that's what you get, because you don't deserve to see their depths.

Hmm...you know, I have noticed that the image of Hermes seen by those strongly touched by him (those I know and whose opinions I respect) is starkly different than what is reported by those who know him only casually. I have wondered why that is, why Hermes seems darker, more serious, than what other people claim. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I do think you may be on to something.

but I'm not sure anyone gets the image of cell-phone-wasting, must-have-all-the-gadgets Odin in their heads.Too busy attraction the chest thumping uber macho mighty arm chair warriors? Although, whatever the reason, it is nice to see people can draw connections between a modern thing and a deity without

[bluedolfyn]

I don't think it sounds arrogant. As individuals, *we* wouldn't bother wasting our time and energy exposing deeper parts of ourselves to people who are uninterested; accepting that the gods, too, are individuals, why would they also be bothered or willing to do that? Especially with people who latch on to the whole "Loki is cool, yay chaos and poor behavior yay!" idea and completely miss the part of being a catalyst is because change needs to happen, is because stagnation is bad, and it's not necessarily about the chaos or disruption so much as that it's a tool to bring about the change. Nevermind the people who don't even treat them as real. Have we told you about the East Coast Thing year, with the problem with people harrassing the Lokeans, threatening to burn down the Loki ve, and then everyone treating the falling over of the Frigga ve as if it was just because of the windstorm? Never mind that that ve was a nice wood-and-canvas sturdy tent and that the Loki tent was a barely held-together, light-weight little thing that did

[chironcentaur]

with the problem with people harrassing the Lokeans, threatening to burn down the Loki ve, and then everyone treating the falling over of the Frigga ve as if it was just because of the windstorm?

"Are those Lokeans over there setting up a ve for Loki? What are they thinking? This is a gathering of decent folk, we can't be introducing something as evil and chaotic as Loki here, that will only break frith anc cause problems. Let's go bother them and threaten to burn the ve down."

*groan* Don't you just love it when people allegedly wanting to defend themselves against an "undesirable" element end up acting like even bigger assholes than the people they are defending themselves against, or breaking all the same rules of hospitality and human decency that you allege they will?

I still don't get it. I see enough commonalities between the two that no way, no how would I take him lightly. Oh, me neither. Appearing friendly and not being quite as quick to anger as the rest of your family (I suspect he has a long fuse, not invested in much

[gallows_queen]

What Jo said, pretty much. Um, except for the "Pops" part, since Odin's not even remotely "Pops" to me. ;P

[chironcentaur]

I commented more fully to Jo above, but yeah, definitely. I begin to better appreciate what devotees of gods like Odin go through with popular opinions. Though a little different since, like Jo said, people take Hermes *far* more lightly than they do Odin (trickster types can only ever be pixies or demons it seems).

I am glad though she said what she did about Loki and Odin and how they appear to their more casual worshippers. I had heard that about them before, but though I noticed a distinct difference in how he is viewed between those who are close to him and those who are not, but for whatever reason I didn't take that theory into account. Though now that I consider it, it makes perfect sense. Something to keep in mind next time this comes up, while trying to convince myself Hermes really does not want me to develop an ulcer defending him from random internet people. :-)

[bluedolfyn]

I don't mean to make it sound like, "yay we know our gods better than this other follower of them might," except, sometimes, it's true. I don't default to that, and I do try not to judge other people, and I do think that at various stages in our lives there are only certain things we can deal with/see/be exposed to, and it's not my place to make judgments on where other people are at. At least, not publicly. It's just a conclusion I've come to on my own. It goes along with the idea that, if you aren't putting time and energy and *effort* into the relationship, why should They? If it's shallow on your end, why shouldn't it be shallow on Their end? I'm so very aware that the gods don't owe us anything at all, and they're real, and stuff. I've seen it at work in my relationship with Loki. At first, I was pretty fearful of him, though he's important to Odin, and though I know that Odin wouldn't let him permanently harm me. But still, until I mastered that fear and was willing to approach him openly, I got stuff of nightmares from him

[chironcentaur]

Oh, I know you don't mean it to sound that way, but that's how some people are going to take it anyway, particularly those people that want to make the gods perfectly equally accessible to everyone and seem threatened by anybody that appears to have a closer relationship with them. All people on the streets have equal access to me in the sense that they can walk up and talk to me but that is no guarantee that you'll gain access to the parts of my personality that are kept more private, no guarantee you'll see anything more than surface bits. In fact, most people will only see surface bits, and that's true of me and everyone else out there, you don't share yourself with everyone. So why should the gods be any different, if we grant that they are individuals with personalities of their own? Most of the time it just seems to boil down to that's not the way you want it to be so that's not how you see things

[ursus_of_unrv]

Sorry you had to go through the drama. Not sure what forum that was, but glad I'm not on it.

I recently had to quell an argument because someone thought comic book representations of the Gods were silly and someone else took GREAT OFFENSE to that. Whatever. It's getting harder and harder for me to exercise diplomacy and disguise my contempt for the jackasses that seem to comprise most of the religious community.

[chironcentaur]

*Goes back and looks up discussion*

Oh gods, I hate that fucking guy. He was one of the more obnoxious elements on that list I'm ever so glad has disappeared from my inbox. I don't envy you that one.

Though I do also get annoyed at people that focus over much on entertainment portrayal of the gods and bitch and moan about the alleged impiety of these people who wrote them. Occasionally I'd like to go through and smack the crap out of people who whined about Xena. But you know, conversations die faster when you do not fuel them