I realize that this is the third post in a row to include the word “Nazi” so I’ll be taking a break from this theme for a bit. I wanted to address concern which has been expressed both to me personally and in the media over the past several years. The concern is about using comparisons of current events/public figures and events in Nazi era Germany or Nazi politicians or leaders.

In my 10/13/06 post “Maybe It’s Not Just About Paying Attention” I compared minority communities in the US today keeping their heads down and hoping that other groups would be targets of intolerance rather than them to similar behavior patterns in Germany of the late 1930’s.

Since this is a hot button issue for many, I wanted to post a link to an excellent webpage that compares Nazi rhetoric about Jews with modern ultra-right-wing rhetoric about gays (all with source references). It is a page worth taking a look at. Not because it makes the “right-wing hardliners are Nazis at heart” argument, but rather because intolerance and persecution can have many forms of expression and Nazi Germany provides a case study on how rhetoric that (when it comes to gays today) is accepted by many, foreshadowed unprecedented horrors just 66 years ago.

I realize that this is the third post in a row to include the word “Nazi” so I’ll be taking a break from this theme for a bit. I wanted to address concern which has been expressed both to me personally and in the media over the past several years. The concern is about using comparisons of current events/public figures and events in Nazi era Germany or Nazi politicians or leaders.

In my 10/13/06 post “Maybe It’s Not Just About Paying Attention” I compared minority communities in the US today keeping their heads down and hoping that other groups would be targets of intolerance rather than them to similar behavior patterns in Germany of the late 1930’s.

Since this is a hot button issue for many, I wanted to post a link to an excellent webpage that compares Nazi rhetoric about Jews with modern ultra-right-wing rhetoric about gays (all with source references). It is a page worth taking a look at. Not because it makes the “right-wing hardliners are Nazis at heart” argument, but rather because intolerance and persecution can have many forms of expression and Nazi Germany provides a case study on how rhetoric that (when it comes to gays today) is accepted by many, foreshadowed unprecedented horrors just 66 years ago.

I just got off of a rather tense phone call with a representative of the Southern Poverty Law Center. I should note that I have a huge amount of respect for the work that this organization does. For any who don’t know, the SPL Center is a non-profit that tracks hate groups in the United States.

The reason for my tense phone call was that I was on their website and came across this page: http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=1185 It is a listing of neo-Nazi and other hate group symbols and tattoos. On the first page is a tattoo of Norse runes on a scroll. Later pages include images of Thor’s hammer and Fenrir.

Let’s be honest a moment. These images came off of racist and neo-Nazi folk. The SPL can tell you where each picture came from. Modern Heathenry has a large contingent of supremacists. Racism is a part of modern Heathen traditions. Look at traditions of only allowing people with connections to the right bloodlines hold leadership roles in some communities. The gentleman I spoke to had had a similar conversation with a woman who sent him a book on Asatru, which ended up having an entire chapter on preserving the purity of the Tribe.

I don’t agree with his assertion that the majority of Heathens are racist or white supremacists. But it is fair to say that a very large number of neo-Nazis are in some way Heathens. More importantly, this gentleman did not really understand the distinction between Heathenry and the rest of modern paganism. It is his honest belief, backed up by research, that greater than half of modern pagans are racist or white supremacists.

The phenomena of non-racists or even worse, non-Heathens getting runic tattoos had never been brought to his attention. When he tried to explain that someone could have neo-Nazi sentiments but not share them with others I had to bring up my queer and trans friends (not by any names) who it is safe to say aren’t neo-Nazis but have runes marked on their bodies.

As things in the world continue to grow more and more concerning, it is shocking and horrifying to me to find that even an organization devoted to protecting minorities would be against us. It never once crossed my mind that to some my shaman marks would mean that I was a neo-Nazi. I believe more and more that as things break down in our world, we cannot assume even for a moment that someone or group will support us. When even the Southern Poverty Law Center believes us to be evil, we can take nothing for granted.

I have never heard the issue of how to separate ourselves in the minds of others from the neo-Nazis discussed in my community. Personally I think this stems from the fact that most of us would never imagine being associated with such filth. This is a conversation that needs to be had across the board in the pagan and Heathen worlds. It blows my mind to think that the SPL Center could look at a group like Asphodel for example, and declare it to be a white-supremacist organization. If they looked at the leaders in the community though, they would almost certainly identify at least Raven and myself as neo-Nazis if they were basing their judgments on our body modifications.

For the past several years I’ve been having an odd reaction to news about pending anti-gay civil rights legislation. Usually the situation goes something like this: Some piece of legislation is pending, for instance Arizona is currently debating a constitutional amendment to “ban gay marriage, civil unions and void domestic partner benefits for both gay and non-gay unmarried couples.”

A lot of people have come out against this proposal. The police and fire unions are worried about recruiting, as are universities. Apparently DP benefits are a big draw for potential employees. The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans is strongly against the legislation as well. Many seniors in relationships choose not to marry in order to keep social security and deceased partners’ pension checks coming. They need the kind of protections this amendment would eliminate in order to maintain hospital visitation and medical decision-making rights. I doubt the AARA cares in the slightest about medical decision making or visitation rights for gay folk but this hits in their backyard. If the amendment could single out same sex couples only, I imagine many of AARA’s members would be all for it in fact.

The 365gay.com article where I read all this notes at the end that the state populace seems equally divided on the matter of the amendment.

My initial response? “good, I hope the fucking amendment passes.”

Now this has nothing to do with poly based anger at being excluded from gay marriage in the first place. Rather, it seems that people don’t care about taking rights away from others but get real protective when you start gunning for them. Frankly it tickles me pink to know that if/when Arizona passes this amendment (and no state has failed to yet once it had reached this legislative stage) a large number of seniors will be in the same boat as the queers. I feel the same way when I read stories of highly respected professors leaving their collegiate posts, as happened in Louisville Kentucky after the state eliminated DP benefits for state employees including those at state funded universities. You want you kid taught by the best? Don’t take away those folks’ health insurance by voting for bigoted legislation.

The same goes for liberal young ladies who couldn’t be bothered to vote but are now facing the prospect of loosing abortion access if the President’s choices for the Supreme Court have their way. Yet people don’t learn. There is a growing movement, to which it seems that the President and the people who got him into office are tied, which wants to cut down on access to traditional contraceptives. Witness that extensive scientific studies that show Abstinence Only education doesn’t cut down significantly on teen sex but may cut down on teen safe sex have had no impact whatsoever on the current political administration.

With every passing bill I am coming convinced that my outlook maybe isn’t going to work. Every time a new anti-gay or anti-civil liberties or pro-torture bill is passed I think that this one is going to be it. This time people will sit up and say “what the fuck are you doing?” Obviously plenty of people are already doing that, but it just doesn’t ever seem to reach a strong enough tipping point. It is like the government is an angry and hungry bear. Various groups seem to think that if they keep their heads down and don’t draw its attention it will be too occupied attacking someone else to notice them slip away. How many retired seniors in Arizona cared about protecting gay marriage or civil unions or DP benefits before? I don’t know the answer but I bet the number is less than those who do now it is their rights in jeopardy.

This is not how it is supposed to work. Being part of society shouldn’t be about hoping someone else gets fucked instead of you. Sure didn’t work for a lot of minorities in Nazi Germany. There was little or no outcry from the Jews when the Nazi started forced sterilization of the disabled for instance. Jewish doctors were quoted as among those who strongly believed in eugenics for gods’ sake.

Our society is simply too divided. My Lady and Var would both say that it has something to do with being a country whose population will be reaching 300million within the month. They probably are at least partially right. I have no idea what the solution might be. Some scholars say that the United States will fracture into four or five smaller countries before the end of the century. Maybe that would help things, maybe not.

I feel like I somehow need to put forth some sort of constructive idea before I can finish this essay but it just is not coming. The only thing I can think of is that we as individuals need to be more mindful of our views towards others. It would be healthier for me to hope that Arizonaand the seniors rather than hope that they do and it teaches some poor retirees some sort of object lesson about being a minority. The silver lining here is the idea that we are not so different, what effects one group can effect another that at first glance to be completely dissimilar. votes not to amend their constitution for the sake of the queers

I’m going to try hard to work from this perspective. Just so long as no old guy calls me “faggot.”

Sorry for the delay in posting. Things have been a bit crazy lately. It’s late here and I don’t intend to make a long post. I would just go to bed, but I have a confession to make. I did something bad this evening. I engaged in behavior which many folk would consider inappropriate for someone in my position. What is worse is that I went down this dark and stormy road with company. Yes, I led another innocent (ha!) soul into sin.

That’s right, on the way home from Cauldron Farm this evening Fire and I stopped at McDonalds. Before you can finish gasping in horror I should add that we also stopped at a gas station and got a package of Twinkies. I hadn’t had McDonalds or any other fast food in over two years and it had been far longer since I had a Twinkie (although in fairness I could only eat one bite of Twinkie, yuck).

I have been eating way too much junk food since my ordeal cycle was almost finished and certainly too much in the weeks since Keeper’s Crossing and the final ordeal in the cycle. I have also been staying up till stupid hours of the morning watching downloaded TV shows on iTunes or reading trashy books I’ve read dozen’s of times before.

It isn’t that I don’t have serious spooky work to be doing. Not to mention that I have work to make up for my company. The issue is that I just need time to come down from the strain of the intense foo from the last year. Fire says that for spirit workers and magicians like us eating junk food is like being bulimic. We binge on this crap which our bodies can’t really handle and most importantly neither can our spirit or astral bodies. We know our systems are going to purge it out and probably in an extremely unpleasant fashion.

Sometimes though, one just wants to feel like everyone else. Do something very mundane and rooted in American society. Sitting here popping mini tootsie pops and Fun Dip while watching Aaron Sorkin’s new show (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, fucking awesome) at 1am it is surprisingly easy to forget the whole shaman thing.

Given the way that the world seems to be going nutty in a real big hurry I don’t suppose that shoving my head in the sand is an OK plan. Still, a week of serious crap food culminating in McDonalds at 11pm is a big part of taking at least a partial vacation from the strange course my life has taken. I appreciate that the Lady has been willing to cut me some slack in this. Still, eight years of knowingly serving Her, I think I have a good idea of how far I can push it. She has made it real clear that now that the first ordeal cycle is over it is time I get down to some real work. I doubt there’ll be much McDonalds in my system for the foreseeable future…

Wouldn’t want to let this unopened pack of Fun Dip go to waste though.