Comments | pinkpolarity: The Pagan Pet Peeve Thread

pinkpolarity

The Pagan Pet Peeve Thread

Oct 21, 2005 08:18

Because I always post inane crap when I'm trying to make deadline and am in imminent danger of having my brains bleed out my ears if I proof one more thoroughly incomprehensible sentence, I bring you the First Annual Pagan Pet Peeve Thread!Post screening is off, and anyone is welcome to pimp this anywhere you like ( Read more... )

paganism, rants, religion, pagan wank

Comments 41

This inspired me to write... cavefelem October 21 2005, 13:52:52 UTC

Teh Stupid Introduction to Paganism

Paganism is a religion. Yes, a single, huge religion under an ever-loving Momma Goddess! (There's a God somewhere in there, too, but He's mostly brushed under the carpet, because things like hairy thighs and hunting and antlers are politically touchy.) Pagans celebrate eight sabbats, do magic on full moons and dance around in circles. If they don't do that, they're obviously not Pagans, so boo on them.

It's nice to be Pagan, because you get to cast spells. It's really easy: just rub some oil on a coloured candle and recite a little poem. (You don't even have to write it yourself! That's what Ravenwolf and McCoy are for!) When you can do spells, it means there'll never, ever be anything wrong in your life, because you can make your own reality. If something in your life sucks, that means you suck and probably deserve it because you did something bad in a past life ( ... )

Re: This inspired me to write... pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 14:10:24 UTC

Ahh, Sparklypoodles. Reminds you that poodles are cute and fluffy, but they can be really nasty if you coddle and spoil them.

Re: This inspired me to write... cavefelem October 21 2005, 14:25:32 UTC

The "you make your own reality" crowd is probably the worst, and they're not limited to the ranks of the lil' sparklies, either. Like, if a car runs over me from behind, I'm obviously a bad witch because my magical protection didn't stop the car or make it fly over my head like KITT. :P

Granted, people usually have more control over their lives than they give themselves credit for... but some take "magical thinking" a bit too far.

Re: This inspired me to write... pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 14:32:02 UTC

Or, if you have a chronic illness, you've obviously manifesting deep-seated inner issues, since disease is really "dis-ease". This makes me want to beat them over the head with a club made of all of my prescription bottles melted together. I mean, there's such a big difference between that and "your fibromyalgia is all in your head." Except, you know, not.

(Biggest Dianic Pet Peeve: stupid cutesy words. Wimmin. Wombyn. Dis-ease. All-one-ness. Despite my general rantiness, there really aren't that many things that I put in the "makes me want to claw my eyes out with a rusty spoon" category, but that's one of them. Along with its cousin, the use of made-up gender neutral pronouns on mailing lists (not always by Pagans, but often), especially the Hollywood-Nazi-sounding "zie" and "zir".)

Thread 12

tigergladys October 21 2005, 14:08:31 UTC

I dated a guy once who claimed that because he was a "pagan" he could cheat on me all he wanted because "his religion said so."
Yeah, that relationship lasted about three minutes.
That's really the same thing you said.

Here's another one:
I've also been really annoyed by the "if you don't flaunt it, it doesn't count" attitude. Like, unless you wear your religion on your sleeve, you can't participate.

pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 14:19:44 UTC

Yup, someone else I know is dealing with the Pagan= adultery is a-ok thing too. There was also the Druid I knew who said "I need to find someone to warm my tent tonight. Hey, it's a Druid festival!" And this woman is Head Druid of an ADF Grove, too. (Why people say the ADF as a whole is nonfluffy is absolutely beyond me.)

As for #2, I once came across a really funny page on the wearing of hubcap-sized pentacles and other Wiccan bling-bling, I'll have to see if I can dredge it up. (And then, of course, there's the Oh-So-Persecuted subset of the Flaunters as well. The Blings are less annoying, honestly, although I'm tempted to ask them who their favorite MCs are. :)

boffo9 October 21 2005, 14:20:48 UTC

My favorite peeve is the bad makeup peeve. Remember when this pagan kid wanted to wear really horrific eye makeup to school? And it became a religious rights issue? WTF?

Since when did paganism demand really bad fashion sense in a public venue? Which mommy goddess is responsible for that?

pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 14:24:57 UTC

OMG yes. That got a very amusing set of responses in nonfluffypagans as I recall, too. Landover Baptist put up a Pagan chart (trying to remember which comm I saw that in, now...) with "Goth subculture" on one side and "Ren Faire subculture" on the other side and "spiritual confusion" in the middle. That pretty much sums up Bad Pagan Fashion Sense, IMO.

boffo9 October 21 2005, 16:34:22 UTC

Whew. I was hoping you would agree on this one.

That said, I like the goth look and the properly skimpy renfair look. But it has its time and place. Often school isn't it.

pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 16:54:53 UTC

I absolutely agree on this one. I don't like people trying to claim religion-- especially MY religion-- as an excuse to simply do something they want to do that's against the rules/convention/common sense. It gives the public the impression that people in my religion are spoiled, self-indulgent entitlement asshats. If you want to wear your garb or your silly makeup in class, at least have the courage to say you're doing it because you want to, not because your religion mandates it.

boffo9 October 21 2005, 14:32:22 UTC

Where is the Big Daddy god?

pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 14:35:40 UTC

Reserved for Jews, Muslims, and Christians, apparently.

That originally came out "Jews, Mushrooms, and Christians." Gaaaaaaah. 22 articles to go, too.

boffo9 October 21 2005, 14:50:08 UTC

So the Pagan male god is a little wuss boy god? A moma's boy god?

This is what I always find funny about modern Paganism, is that while historically speaking you had really virile manly man gods albeit with odd moments), today what is worshipped seems to have had its balls cut off.

Then again, even Thor dressed up as a girl once.

theczech October 21 2005, 14:58:25 UTC

Sheesh! Didn't you know that balls are bad? We must reject the evil violent masculine and embrace the perfect peaceful feminine which will make the world safe for cute little bunny rabbits!

Thread 15

xerne October 21 2005, 15:57:06 UTC

Any other day, I'd probably have scrolled past this, but after last night... I am sick and tired of pagans who decide on their own what I must believe and what I must be like, and then react irrationally toward me based on that. And pagans who would go to great-fucking-lengths to avoid *shockhorror* a conversation with a christian! Because they might get icky Jesus cooties or something.

pinkpolarity October 21 2005, 16:57:51 UTC

I just read your post about that, and I'm stunned. What freaking NERVE! She couldn't look you in the face and say what her problem was? Wow. At least talk to you long enough to discover whether or not you actually are a troll instead of simply assuming you are. She may have cause for wariness, but not the passive-aggressive way she handled things. I agree with the person who asked if there were somewhere else your friend can go. These people don't sound like they're worth the bother.

(What *is* the Willard Preacher, anyway?)

xerne October 21 2005, 19:58:39 UTC

Sidewalk preacher on campus. He has a website -- http://www.thewillardpreacher.com/ where he talks about stuff. He's pretty reasonable as such things go, and has never been less than willing to talk to me, even though he knows I'm a heretical poly lesbian. He thinks I'm going to hell, obviously, but that doesn't really bother me. =P