Look both ways before you cross

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

The left's positions on cultural isolationism are baffling and often contradictory. We need to be more worldly and accepting and knowledgable of other cultures and there needs to be a dialog between races and ethnicities BUT woe unto you if you adopt any tools or dress or practices from other cultures because then you're guilty of cultural appropriation which is apparently bad some nebulous reason. Further more apparently the best way to preserve rare and dying languages isn't to simply codify them in a comprehensive dictionary, you need to keep up a population of native and primary speakers, because mutual unintelligibility is apparently a good thing; that'll be helpful for understanding between peoples. And apparently if there's no pure blooded members of an ehtnicity left or nobody that practices all of it's traditions that's tantamount to that group dying out, even if there's thousands or millions of people partly descended from that group and/or follow or have adopted some of it's traditions; apparently that doesn;t count. Does that mean that the klan's and the third reich's conception of race is more or less correct then? Because the focus on pure blood and uncontaminated culture sounds awfully similar.

What we really need is a buffet style approach to culture, mix and match as much as you want however you want, no matter who you are or what your origin

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

Firstly, please forgive typos. Can't type for toffee on my phone.

Right and wrong beliefs? That's an interesting one. I have a moral framework based on my religion (Nordic paganism) and personal morality.

Like straight serious Norse Paganism, or like the syncretic tounge-in-cheed Norse paganism of the Church of the SubGenius (Praise JehOdin! Praise Loki-Nhgh!)

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

I actually know enough serious non-Nazi Norse pagans to view it as just another flavor of paganism, same as wiccans or occultists. Obviously, I still acknowledge that Neo-Nazis  have co-opted Odinism as a means to spread hatred, but seeing as co-opting a faith to spread their faith seems to be a tactic of most hate groups, I don't give grief to anyone who unironically just thinks the Norse gods are cool and have some pretty fun stories, in the same way I don't write off my Christian friends just cuz the KKK is religiously Christian.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-incredible-chevalier-deon-who-left-france-as-a-male-spy-and-returned-as-a-christian-woman

"I think what makes d'Eon so historically significant and such an important pioneer for today is not what he did but the extent to which he thought about it and gave ideas to it," he said. In d'Eon's philosophy and to some extent, the philosophy of 18th century European society, gender is not essential, it is fluid; one can make a decision about where to land in a kind of continuum, not only of gender but of morality as well. "This whole discussion we've been having the past 6 months about which bathrooms people should use and where we're groping towards is that a person should use the bathroom they feel most comfortable with, society shouldn't be making that decision for them, this is right out of 1750s thinking," says Kates.

But, yeah, totally new issue people are making up 

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

again, there shouldn't be seperate bathrooms at all, that's sex based discrimination and it's also inefficient

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

I actually know enough serious non-Nazi Norse pagans to view it as just another flavor of paganism, same as wiccans or occultists. Obviously, I still acknowledge that Neo-Nazis  have co-opted Odinism as a means to spread hatred, but seeing as co-opting a faith to spread their faith seems to be a tactic of most hate groups, I don't give grief to anyone who unironically just thinks the Norse gods are cool and have some pretty fun stories, in the same way I don't write off my Christian friends just cuz the KKK is religiously Christian.

It's not that. I find non-tongue-in-cheek greco roman paganism weird too. How does one get involved with that? It's obviously not the immense societal pressures that cause people to get involved with Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, or Judaism.

And why do people take Wicca more seriously than Scientology? they were both invented around the same time and involve a whole bunch of revisionist history; the only difference is that Scientology is kind of original whereas Wicca is pieced together from mismatched pieces of discredited religions like some kind of theological Frankenstein's monster

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

You forget, so was Discordianism. And Scientology was created by an asshole whose stated objective was to make up bullshit to make money and amass power.

[Chelagoras The Boulder]

As for Wicca, it's kinda hard to practice religions from that long ago when the Catholic Church made it their business to wipe almost every primary source of information about it. Hence the stitching together of whatever is available.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Another problem with the left is the Newspeak,

That isn't the left.  Ask them.  They themselves will tell you they are not the left.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

And why do people take Wicca any religion more seriously than Scientology?

FTFY.

[Prelate Diogenes Shandor]

You forget, so was Discordianism.

Yeah, but Discordianism and SubGenius are open about it

[Fallenkezef]

I actually know enough serious non-Nazi Norse pagans to view it as just another flavor of paganism, same as wiccans or occultists. Obviously, I still acknowledge that Neo-Nazis  have co-opted Odinism as a means to spread hatred, but seeing as co-opting a faith to spread their faith seems to be a tactic of most hate groups, I don't give grief to anyone who unironically just thinks the Norse gods are cool and have some pretty fun stories, in the same way I don't write off my Christian friends just cuz the KKK is religiously Christian.

That's pretty much it.

I have a valknut tattoo I can't show around certain people without them thinking I'm a neo-nazi, which really pisses me off.

For my part, Norse paganism is about accepting the consequences of your actions. Accepting that you are fucked, the world is out to knock you down so stop fucking whining about it, get up and get on with life. The sagas have some damn cool stories and moral metahphors and Odin is a fascinating deity with many different t facets that appeal to me.

However wiccans REALLY annoy me. I respect their right to believe what they want, just always strikes me as cherry picking whatever gods you feel like without actualy knowing what they represent. Most of them are just christians in denial who think they can replace the holy trinity with random celtic gods and nobody will notice.

But if it works for them, it works for them.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I actually know enough serious non-Nazi Norse pagans to view it as just another flavor of paganism, same as wiccans or occultists. Obviously, I still acknowledge that Neo-Nazis  have co-opted Odinism as a means to spread hatred, but seeing as co-opting a faith to spread their faith seems to be a tactic of most hate groups, I don't give grief to anyone who unironically just thinks the Norse gods are cool and have some pretty fun stories, in the same way I don't write off my Christian friends just cuz the KKK is religiously Christian.

That's pretty much it.

I have a valknut tattoo I can't show around certain people without them thinking I'm a neo-nazi, which really pisses me off.

For my part, Norse paganism is about accepting the consequences of your actions. Accepting that you are fucked, the world is out to knock you down so stop fucking whining about it, get up and get on with life. The sagas have some damn cool stories and moral metahphors and Odin is a fascinating deity with many different t facets that appeal to me.

However wiccans REALLY annoy me. I respect their right to believe what they want, just always strikes me as cherry picking whatever gods you feel like without actualy knowing what they represent. Most of them are just christians in denial who think they can replace the holy trinity with random celtic gods and nobody will notice.

But if it works for them, it works for them.

1.  I can't say for England, but that sort of tattoo over here means only one thing. 

2.  Nobody knows what ANY God represents.  They could tell us literally anything, and we'd have to believe it.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

I recently watched a documentary called "Hypernormalization"... coming off of that, I'd say that "right and left" in any real sense of the word seems to have been replaced with two fake positions, both of which are looking to manage the stability of the system, rather than truly improve anything. On the "left" the management is attempting to normalize as much as possible so that subgroups don't become so disenfranchised that they flip out and revolt. On the "right" the management is attempting to keep everything in stasis.

The documentary was pretty depressing since it focused on the idea that all politics starting in the late 70's basically gave up trying to make the world a better place. 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I recently watched a documentary called "Hypernormalization"... coming off of that, I'd say that "right and left" in any real sense of the word seems to have been replaced with two fake positions, both of which are looking to manage the stability of the system, rather than truly improve anything. On the "left" the management is attempting to normalize as much as possible so that subgroups don't become so disenfranchised that they flip out and revolt. On the "right" the management is attempting to keep everything in stasis.

The documentary was pretty depressing since it focused on the idea that all politics starting in the late 70's basically gave up trying to make the world a better place. 

American turn it's back on the future when they threw Carter out in favor of Reagan.

What's hilarious, though is that both sides think their representatives aren't crazy enough.