Happy Little Rants

These are mostly gleaned from my daily LiveJournal commentaries, along with some random musings. It gives a "sound bite" perspective of my personal views on various issues.

Fair warning: Political correctness is not in play here.
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Yes, I believe pagans should be united....united against pagan politics that seek to create an agenda for "all pagans." It's one thing to say "We're pagan and we vote." It's entirely different to try to represent how all pagans are supposed to be voting. That is one reason I'm against the Pagan Unity Campaign.

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Quoted from another forum:
Whatever happened to freedom of religion? Oh wait!!
Sorry I forgot it is freedom of religion only if you are Christian!!!!

Grrrrrr....... get over the "poor pagan me" syndrome. There are crackpots and extremists in both Christian and non-Christian faiths; they get harassed just like us. Yes, the U.S. Government is prominently to the right at this time (cited because I know it's in your head). But things were no different under other administrations.

Fundies are fundies under any banner; the Christian ones are just getting more press right now. But that doesn't mean we're getting any increased persecution or discrimination. In fact, more and more pagan and non-pagan groups are banding together under the common goal of continued religious freedom for all. So unstick that broomstick, eh? No one's hauling out their torches and pitchforks.

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On "Pagan Tolerance:"

What we’ve got here is a subculture within the pagan scene that thinks disagreement is a signpost of automatic intolerance, and if things aren't going exactly the way you want in life that you're being persecuted. Any form of criticism by other pagans equals intolerance, but on the other hand it's perfectly OK to try silencing or blacklisting anyone who dares to point out inconsistencies or disagree with any aspect of another’s practices or beliefs. If someone stands up and says they personally have a problem with such and such, and here's why, that's oppression. Or elitist, or (place "uppity pagan" label here).

For a community that is supposed to pride itself on individuality and breaking away from the "sheeple" mentality, it sure does rear its ugly head a lot. Somehow, any sort of critical thinking that goes into comfort zone territory is perceived as a personal attack, rather than an objective view that might be worth further study. It’s not going against the idea of "pagan unity" to disagree with, or point out a discrepancy in, or downright actively dislike, a person, belief or practice. It seems sometimes that paganism (to use a psychological cliché) enables victimhood. It’s one thing to provide friendship, understanding and support to a wounded person in their recovery. It’s quite another to hinder that recovery by encasing people in a rose-colored bubble of "tolerance and unconditional love," shielding them from any sort of negativity or things that might make them uncomfortable. That’s not healing; that’s crippling.

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If I hear one more time, "well, of COURSE you (1) reacted that way, (2) have those personality traits, (3) are in this situation, (4) (your quote here) --- you're a VIRGO!" ....I'm just going to scream.

Please note. This is not a diss of folks who find modern astrology beneficial. This is for those who persist in judging my psyche and reactions based on modern astrology, which I do not follow, have no interest in, and could care less what Virgos are/do/act. Even when I tell them it doesn't matter to me, they persist in using Virgo traits to explain to me my personality, life, cyber-comments etc in conversation.

As if somehow I will see the error of my ways and begin planning my every move around today's horoscope. That I'm somehow less pagan if I haven't had my star charts done, and "how much better" my life could be if I had only known what sign the moon & sun were in when I made any major decisions. That I did not travel to some remote hilltop to observe the Harmonic Convergence, and have no idea when the planets will next align in some significant way.

If astrological placements are a part of your life, I respect your path. Please respect my decision to not care one way or the other.

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(too long to post here, but one of my better rants. I made a separate page; click below.)

I remember what it was to be young and stupid eager. Living in a dramatic haze that indicated that I was here to do great things, change the world, fight a secret battle with evil forces. Oh, yes indeedy.....