Calm, Cool, Pissed

[ivyskeep]

I'm trying to not get all worked up about the hit piece in The Atlantic about Paganism. I'm coming down now. The Wild Hunt and Jason Mankey both have good responses. FWIW, I plan on writing a letter to the editor politely (through gritted teeth) suggesting that they talk to actual Pagans about the religion. Here's the mirrored version of the tripe article on MSN if you don't want to give The Atlantic the attention.  He uses Pagan and Paganism as a pejorative for all he doesn't like in the world.

Comments

[bleodswean]

Honestly, it's a ridiculous hit piece and "pagan" could be replaced quite easily with all manner of other words. Designed for a very specific audience. Who is reading The Atlantic? Do you read that regularly?

[ivyskeep]

I don't read it regularly, just occasional pieces that come through my social media feeds. They claim they're unbiased and publish opinions from all quarters. It sounded like an evangelical sermon from my childhood coming from a rabbi instead of a hellfire-bent minister. But I know no group is immune to having someone who spouts this stuff. I just find it ironic that he uses "pagan/paganism" the same way some evangelicals I grew up with used the word "Jew" and "Jewish". The exact same people he seems to be trying to impress honestly.

[arlie]

Lots of Christians use "Pagan" that way. OTOH, when I'm thinking in soundbite mode, that's how I use "Christian". Thus, e.g. Donald Trump is the very platonic form of a Christian, perhaps even the second and final avatar of their god. (They'd say "Second Coming of Jesus.")

I know not all Christians believe that women should be left to die of ectopic pregnancies, lest the non-viable fetus (they'd say "baby") die one moment sooner than it otherwise would. But my guts *know* that these laws express the true essence of Christianity.

I try not to give vent to this essentially emotional characterization. I'm not Christian, after all, required by my religion to believe a job lot of things that are self-evidently false, as well as others that are unprovable. (Oops, there I go again; some Christians treat the obviously false claims as equally obviously metaphorical, and other simply ignore them entirely. and my *head* knows that, even if my gut's prone to us-vs-them oversimplification.)

--
FWIW, I didn't read the piece myself, let alone realize that the author was Jewish. But that's OK; I can make almost all the same points using the term "monotheist" or "followers of the desert god" rather than Christian - and in fact I have a dear friend, a heathen polytheist, whose knee jerks/sound bite thoughts tend towards blaming all followers of that god (Christians, Muslims, Jews) equally, while asserting that the worse they behave, the more they are doing their god's will.

[ivyskeep]

Yeah, that's why I didn't rush off a letter to the editor while I was in the throes of my initial reaction. I want to come off as rational. I have internal, and admittedly external, kneejerk reactions to such people and the religion. If we react, then we're being "too sensitive" or angry or whatever. I get tired of us having to be the "bigger" people sometimes.

[weofodthignen]

After skimming it—yes, a horrible piece of straw-manning and illustrative of what is not seeing all humanity as brothers and sisters—I looked him up and discovered what I now see in your reply above, that he's a rabbi currently at the Harvard Divinity School rather than a Xian fundie currently at Oral Roberts U.

I have avoided The Atlantic since it published a hit piece, full of inaccuracies a few of which were subsequently corrected, on someone I knew else-net. At one time I regarded it as a good magazine. But not any more. Maybe they want eyeballs at all costs, and publish untrue articles stoking outrage against people and groups to that end. Thank you for giving us a link elsewhere to read the text, and thank you for writing a letter.

[ivyskeep]

You're welcome. Yeah, not to sound too old fogey, but I think clickbait culture holds a lot of blame.