(no subject)

[fpb]

Everyone, by now, has read and digested charlottelennox' tremendous account of debased fandom politics and arrivisme. To me, the tale has had an ugly and personal echo. I feel vindicated, but dirty - the kind of vindication one would be happier without, because of the demeaning nature of the whole. These are people with whom I have been at war for years. When I remarked that "FA mods are still lying daughters-of-bitches", that remark went around the fandom, with the suggestion that this was a classic example of my bad behaviour or near mental illness. Well, those mods were the same, beginning with heidi8 who distinguished themselves in Charitygate, universally regarded as the lowest point in the history of fandom. The role of msscribe in this particular episode was not central: the leading spirit, from first to last, was Heidi, and all the worst trolls were people who either belonged to her clique or aimed to.

In front of this sort of evidence, it might at least be admitted that, whatever one might want to think of my manners, I had made the right enemies. But that is not what happened. Instead, the moderator in charge of the discussion banned me from the community, while allowing all sort of scum to make insulting remarks about me. The excuse for this, if you please, was that the thread was not about me. Not about me, you see, but certainly about insulting and defaming me.

A couple of words about this moderator. The first thing I found out about her is that she is a member of Asatru. And Asatru is a neo-pagan community that spends half its time denying persistent rumours that they are neo-Nazi or at least racists. Well, perhaps they are not. All I can say is that I would rather have a Nazi for an enemy than for a friend; and that I would rather have a neo-pagan for an enemy than for a friend. They may not be Nazis. But I am familiar with Fascist and Nazi circles, and, by some inconceivable fatality, they do seem to be simply full of neo-pagan types.

And that is not the only thing about this person that I find politically repulsive. At the same time as she cultivates this entirely non-Nazi cult, she has also taken her name from one of Berthold Brecht's vilest pieces of Communist propaganda: Pirate Jenny, an odious fantasy of revenge and massacre on the evil hated Bourgeois. So we take it that she is not a Nazi, and we take it that she is not a Communist either. We reassure ourselves that she does not cultivate, even in jest, the memory of the two worst murder cults in recent history.

People like her, her arbitrary behaviour, her fondness for insult and persecution, her all too evident vindictiveness, are evidence that some sections of the fandom have learned precisely nothing from the whole appalling series of revelations. To the likes of Pirate Jenny, what charlottelennox' revelations have provided is nothing more than another target for persecution. No doubt, msscribe will now see her name become mud in everyone's eyes; and I cannot say that she does not deserve it. But as for looking at one's own attitudes; as for trying to spread some peace in the fandom instead of indulging in the endless game of selecting targets for slander and hatred; Pirate Jenny and her accomplices do not even come close to conceiving of any such thing. After all, fandom is about persecuting people.

Comments

Re: Hang on a moment

[fpb.livejournal.com]

Incidentally, who on Earth even mentioned the Greek gods? It so happens that I not only appreciate ancient mythologies, but professionally study them. That is exactly why I regard any attempt to resurrect them in this day and age as irrational, sentimental, self-centered and dangerous nonsense.

Re: Hang on a moment

[tree_and_leaf]

Me. They were fairly irrelevant to the argument, merely noting that I think the Norse mythology had something to be said for it. But I certainly agree that resurrecting their cult is a bad idea (though, I wonder, is it really any worse than the materialistic irreligion so prevelant today? it's certainly less self-centred).

Re: Hang on a moment

[fpb.livejournal.com]

I disagree, and the disagreement goes to the heart of why I despise neo-Paganism. Religion, if it is anything at all, is a philosophy of existence. Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, give certain accounts of existence, and the practices they dictate are explained by the philosophy, not the reverse. (This is a very abbreviated argument. If you want, I will post in the future the essay I wrote a while back on this matter.) Now, modern pseudo-religions such as Wicca do nothing of the kind. At best, they give a vague, hinting series of suggestions about "energies" and correspondences, which do not allow to a solidly argued philosophy of existence which you can debate and oppose. No, they exist purely to make people feel good. The appeal of Wicca to its members is what is sometimes described as "inner healing" or the like; at any rate, the implication is that you should pick it up because it feels right, or nice, for you. The issue of truth hardly comes up. In the kingdom of relativism that the Pope has blasted, this is what passes for religion: something that improves your own ego, that leads to something called self-actualization or self-realization. But that is simply nothing to do with the issue of any religion. The monks of the Buddha, the warriors of Muhammad, the missionaries of the Church, did not spread the word because it would make people feel better; in many cases, it might make them feel a great deal worse. They went out because they believed it was true, and, being true, it deserved to be spread. That being the case, as I said to a former friend, going over from Wicca to atheism is a great step forward in dignity of thought and proper use of the intellect. Atheism engages with the real world; it is, like all true religions, a clear philosophy of existence, and deals with facts and issues of truth. This is an enormous step forward from simply looking for "inner healing" or "inner lights". Self-centred? Wicca is as self-centred a discipline as the mind of man ever conceived.

Even so, Wicca is still better than neo-Paganism, because at least it is an original intellectual effort. The basics of any kind of neo-Paganism are sinister: you should follow a certain path, not because it is rooted in universal reality, not even because it is individually good for you and leads to "inner healing", but because it is nationally or culturally suited to you. When the various Teutonic nations became converted to Christianity, they did wrong, in the eyes of Asatru and other Odinists, not because Christianity is a worse system than Asatru, nor even because it is bad for the individual self, but because it struck at the communal identity of the tribes concerned. These tribes were originally bound with their paganism; therefore their remote descendants will find their proper place in a resurrection of said paganism - and in no other system. It is, you might say, in the blood. I find this both irrational and sinister.