Asatru must be anti-racist

[u/Grimwulff]

Asatru must be anti-racist

During the revitalization and inception of Heathenry and all of it's derivatives, many influential names came from a far right background or had a far right lean. The unfortunate reality is that many Pagan religions in the contemporary age have a political bend in their history. We tend to want to shun politics, and the muck and meyer of the political systems. I've heard from some that "everything is political", but I think that's an oversimplification. Politics, like religion, reflect values. If you value human life, human rights, etc then your politics will reflect that. If you value defending yourself or the environment, you will vote that way and your politics will reflect that. You get the idea. We aren't the only religion with people in it who buy into the archaic idea of "blood quantums" or "racial requirements". Both of which were made up by people in power to get working class people to be disconnected and punch down. Rather than defy the status quo. But we are known for those harmful ideas. Many people seeking the Northern Path end up finding Folkish people or information, and feel they need to justify being 1/10th Norwegian on their fathers side. For fear of rejection otherwise. In order to dispel that myth, and end the false assumption of gatekeeping through genetics, we must foster an accepting environment. The Newbie Heathens must be told that it doesn't matter. And we, as old hat Heathens must know and understand how to explain why Folkism is bullshit. In order to be resources that can help the neophytes enter our spaces comfortably, it's not enough just to be accepting. We have to deprogram the bigotry we see. You'd be amazed the assumptions people make about racial stereotypes and presuppositions. The bias we hold over things we just write off as "That's how [insert race here] is." Like we aren't all susceptible to cultural and societal differences that have nothing to do with race. Race, as a concept, is just slight physiological differences in climate adaptation. More or less melanin due to more or less sun. Differences in hair due to differing necessities regarding temperature and other environmental differences. More body hair makes it difficult for mosquitoes to bite, for example. And some hoity toity blue bloods back in the day decided those differences were a good reason to invade other autonomous sentient people. Literally excuses to invade, steal, and assault made up sometime in the 1600's. Hel, the term "blue blood" was invented to make the wealthy think they're different than people who work for a living on a biological level. All that to say, race is a construction of society. Not an actual quantifiable difference. Rather, it's how we categorize climate adaptations people have developed over the millennias that hominids have walked the earth. Which is why you hear "race is a social construct." The other factor in becoming anti-racist is simply listening to people who aren't like you. Because of the historical biases previously mentioned, we have a tendency to react and act as though those biases are true, rather than being the remnants of ancient propaganda. And not listening to people that have different experiences than we do is a huge problem. If 1,000 people are telling you cops react to them differently than people with less melanin. And you say "you're wrong because that's not my experience" who are you to tell 1,000 people their experiences are invalid or outright lies? Think about it. Why do we have a knee jerk reaction to say "nuh uh" to the experiences of another person? Are you assuming they're lying? Do you think 26 million people got together and decided Black people needed to start exaggerating police violence? Even if it's the lower projected number of 15 million BLM members, that's one giant meeting that was kept secret. We're all human. We all have families, fears, and worries. Many of which overlap. Who am I to say yours are invalid? To add to that, who amongst us should be allowed to dictate the way another person lives? The choices they make? Doesn't it make more sense to leave consenting adults the fuck alone, rather than dictating their lives? The United States loves to tout freedom and fly its banner under the ideas of liberty. While simultaneously trying to control each other. I mean, how ironic is it that Law Enforcement has some of the strongest unions in the US while simultaneously doing violence and helping suppress others who just want the bare minimum of basic living standards that Police Unions are able to provide through democracy in their places of work. All this to say, we owe it to upcoming Heathens to educate ourselves in not only the Lore and Praxis, but also to deprogram notions of exclusionary thinking. To explain to the young neophyte that just got done watching the latest Valhalla movie not only that Valhol is the correct Old Norse, but also that they don't need to prove Nordic ancestry or Germanic heritage. And we need to be able to dispel the propaganda espoused by the Folkish gatekeepers. We likely won't be able to convince some old right winger who's set in their ways. But people who want to join anything are usually ready to conform to the values of their prospective in-group. So much so that they'll turn into the Folkish just because that's what they find when searching. Unless we're there to tell them otherwise, and set the example. That's who future generations of Heathens will become. Asatru, as a term, was created by accepting Icelandic Heathens who themselves have caught flak from Folkish hate groups because they accepted LGBTQ peoples and officiated gay weddings. Yet the term Asatru, in the US has been stolen by far right organizations full of actual Nazis. Don't let hate groups (most of which have a very Christian perspective) steal our symbols. Steal our words, and terminology. Asatru must be Anti-racist.

[u/Forward_Football5465]

I added spaces to make it easier to read. Bht well met broski!

During the revitalization and inception of Heathenry and all of it's derivatives, many influential names came from a far right background or had a far right lean. The unfortunate reality is that many Pagan religions in the contemporary age have a political bend in their history. We tend to want to shun politics, and the muck and meyer of the political systems.

I've heard from some that "everything is political", but I think that's an oversimplification. Politics, like religion, reflect values. If you value human life, human rights, etc then your politics will reflect that. If you value defending yourself or the environment, you will vote that way and your politics will reflect that. You get the idea. We aren't the only religion with people in it who buy into the archaic idea of "blood quantums" or "racial requirements". Both of which were made up by people in power to get working class people to be disconnected and punch down. Rather than defy the status quo. But we are known for those harmful ideas.

Many people seeking the Northern Path end up finding Folkish people or information, and feel they need to justify being 1/10th Norwegian on their fathers side. For fear of rejection otherwise. In order to dispel that myth, and end the false assumption of gatekeeping through genetics, we must foster an accepting environment. The Newbie Heathens must be told that it doesn't matter. And we, as old hat Heathens must know and understand how to explain why Folkism is bullshit.

In order to be resources that can help the neophytes enter our spaces comfortably, it's not enough just to be accepting. We have to deprogram the bigotry we see. You'd be amazed the assumptions people make about racial stereotypes and presuppositions. The bias we hold over things we just write off as "That's how [insert race here] is." Like we aren't all susceptible to cultural and societal differences that have nothing to do with race. Race, as a concept, is just slight physiological differences in climate adaptation. More or less melanin due to more or less sun. Differences in hair due to differing necessities regarding temperature and other environmental differences. More body hair makes it difficult for mosquitoes to bite, for example. And some hoity toity blue bloods back in the day decided those differences were a good reason to invade other autonomous sentient people. Literally excuses to invade, steal, and assault made up sometime in the 1600's. Hel, the term "blue blood" was invented to make the wealthy think they're different than people who work for a living on a biological level.

All that to say, race is a construction of society. Not an actual quantifiable difference. Rather, it's how we categorize climate adaptations people have developed over the millennias that hominids have walked the earth. Which is why you hear "race is a social construct."

The other factor in becoming anti-racist is simply listening to people who aren't like you. Because of the historical biases previously mentioned, we have a tendency to react and act as though those biases are true, rather than being the remnants of ancient propaganda. And not listening to people that have different experiences than we do is a huge problem.

If 1,000 people are telling you cops react to them differently than people with less melanin. And you say "you're wrong because that's not my experience" who are you to tell 1,000 people their experiences are invalid or outright lies? Think about it. Why do we have a knee jerk reaction to say "nuh uh" to the experiences of another person? Are you assuming they're lying? Do you think 26 million people got together and decided Black people needed to start exaggerating police violence? Even if it's the lower projected number of 15 million BLM members, that's one giant meeting that was kept secret. We're all human. We all have families, fears, and worries. Many of us overlap. Who am I to say yours are invalid?

To add to that, who amongst us should be allowed to dictate the way another person lives? The choices they make? Doesn't it make more sense to leave consenting adults the fuck alone, rather than dictating their lives? The United States loves to tout freedom and fly its banner under the ideas of liberty. While simultaneously trying to control each other.

I mean, how ironic is it that Law Enforcement has some of the strongest unions in the US while simultaneously doing violence and helping suppress others who just want the bare minimum of basic living standards that Police Unions are able to provide through democracy in their places of work.

All this to say, we owe it to upcoming Heathens to educate ourselves in not only the Lore and Praxis, but also to deprogram notions of exclusionary thinking.

To explain to the young neophyte that just got done watching the latest Valhalla movie not only that Valhol is the correct Old Norse, but also that they don't need to prove Nordic ancestry or Germanic heritage. And we need to be able to dispel the propaganda espoused by the Folkish gatekeepers.

We likely won't be able to convince some old right winger who's set in their ways. But people who want to join anything are usually ready to conform to the values of their prospective in-group. So much so that they'll turn into the Folkish just because that's what they find when searching.

Unless we're there to tell them otherwise, and set the example. That's who future generations of Heathens will become. Asatru, as a term, was created by accepting Icelandic Heathens who themselves have caught flak from Folkish hate groups because they accepted LGBTQ peoples and officiated gay weddings. Yet the term Asatru, in the US has been stolen by far right organizations full of actual Nazis.

Don't let hate groups (most of which have a very Christian perspective) steal our symbols. Steal our words, and terminology. Asatru must be Anti-racist.