Pagan Political Kerfuffle and Why I am Not in on it

Last updated on: January 24, 2018 at 1:33 pm by Bekah Evie Bel

Pagan Political Kerfuffle and Why I am Not in on it 2018-01-24T13:33:27+10:00 Bekah Evie Bel

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I haven’t weighed in on the politics kerfuffle that has been pervading the Pagan and Heathen Blogospheres these past few weeks or more. At most I have made a couple comments on posts about G&R;, including the one on Patheos Pagan written by Rhyd Wildermuth of G&R; (Through a Mirror Darkly).

My contribution was mostly to point out how, when you write something a certain way, adding even multiple caveats is pointless in the extreme.

I haven’t really touched the political side of things, nor even the stuff about racism.

Because I am just not a political person. I am not sure if it’s just a Me thing, but I have a feeling that it is partially due to me being Australian. Here in Australia we have politics of course, we even have that sort of politics – the one that has nothing to do with our current government, the one to do with ideals and philosophies and whatnot. Sure, we have capitalists, fascists, Marxists and on and on and on – good bad whatever. We have all those people, but I guess they just aren’t on the same level as they are in the US and other places. Or, maybe they are just not very loud here where Boganism reigns supreme. Or maybe I am too bogan to hear them?

So, I am not really up on all the political jargon and systems and beliefs. Maybe I should be? But any time I consider reaching into that puddle of crap, I kind of feel like, don’t I have enough to do and research and put together?

I homeschool my two older kids, that requires hours and hours of work in lesson planning and writing, drawing up a curriculum, printing and cutting and binding and researching. Then I have to teach it all. All the while looking after a cat-napping 7month old. And running a (admittedly ignored by everyone at the moment) forum for Pagans. And running multiple Facebook groups for Homeschoolers and Pagan Homeschoolers. And a blog for my homeschooling, and its Facebook page and the Veils Facebook page and now I have this blog. And I like to actually DO my religion, and learn about MY religion, as well other peoples. And I of course have the usual stuff (which is part of my religion too) cooking and cleaning and mowing the lawns and feeding the bunny.

Occasionally I like to read a book or watch TV. Occasionally I like to have a bloody shower or sleep. Or eat.

Learning about politics? Yeaaah. No. I just can’t bring myself to put in the time.

All that to say, I am not a political person. I don’t even know all the labels and terms or what they all mean. And when I do a quick search to get an idea – the knowledge of the definition is retained for all of an hour. I know I am Left of Centre. How far left, I have no idea. I have opinions, well-formed ones, regarding certain political issues – LGBTQI rights, Racism, Sexism, Abortion etc. But I am not self-labelled as being a supporter of this-type-of-politics or this-type-of-social-reform.

So the fact that I haven’t written much, anything, about all this political kerfuffle, doesn’t mean I don’t care about the issues being discussed. It’s just, I don’t have the ability to discuss these issues on such a far ranging scale, because I don’t know enough about it all and can’t know enough at this point in time. For me to try to enter these discussions, well, it would be the height of stupidity.

The other issue is the people involved. I haven’t been that active in the Pagan Blogosphere for a year or two, because of my own life crap – I couldn’t bring myself to care about everyone elses issues, so I stayed away from them. I don’t know much about these people or their history. Rhyd? Galina? They are no-names to me. I have been reading more lately, obviously. But prior to this year, I probably heard of them in passing and ignored the passing reference.

They are names to me now. But I still don’t know very much about them, their history in the blogosphere, their beliefs. So I am sitting on the sidelines and not passing judgement on any of them, as people. And the problem is, what I have read – all over the place – on both sides of the issue, I actually agree with points from both sides and disagree with points from both sides.

It’s a tangled mess that I can’t quite unravel. Nonetheless, I am finding the whole thing eye opening and instructive – good points and bad points, it’s all teaching me something.
I am coming across new (new to me) bloggers left right and centre. And I am following all of them, just to see what I can see. I may unfollow some in the future, but for now, I am enjoying “getting to know them” and learning about all these issues from the periphery.

So I am not involved in this issue, and I will stay out of this issue, for the moment. Reading about these issues is, handily, bringing up some other ideas for me though. So I am gaining some writing influence from it all too.

But if you find me linking to a political post and ignoring much of the political side of the post – I am not doing it to be perverse. I am not showing you that I don’t care or agree or disagree. I am not making a political statement with my link. I am merely linking for whatever reason I specify (another topic post for example) and I am sitting back and learning.

Because learning is what I am good at.

Previous Post

April 30, 2016

Pagan Blogosphere Roundup - April 2016

Next Post

May 5, 2016 Book Review - Hekate Keys to the Crossroads

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Australia Calendar, Events and Festivals General Hellenism Hellenismoz How To Lore and Myth Multimedia Pagan Blogosphere Pagan Community Pagan Parenting and Homeschooling Paganism 101 Personal Practice Religious Philosophy Resources and Material Ritual Uncategorized Witchcraft 101

Select a Month January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz