Raven Daegmorgan ([info]greyorm) wrote,
@ 2008-11-19 17:31:00
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Entry tags:asatru, human behavior, rant, religion

Fucking Tru

Why do so many Asatru on-line behave like such a bunch of snotty, rage-filled, bed-wetting jerks? Seriously. What is it with the fucking rampant teenage high-school testosterone? Since when was bullish thick-headedness and an inability to accept reason a virtuous trait in Asatru? Why is it that Asatru attracts so many fundamentalists and fanatics? Seriously, Asatru has become the religion of the pig-headed asshole jock.

(Just waiting for someone to show up and prove the point.)


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[info]dumnbunny
2008-11-20 12:30 am UTC (link)
I feel funny saying it -- it sounds so trite -- but I believe that a lot of this comes down to the Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory. It's been my observation that only a minority succumb to the GIFT effect. As in real life, though, the vocal minority can be mistaken for the majority.

I have also observed that those who do succumb to GIFT will silence or drive away those who do not. Consider the official World of Warcraft forums. I honestly find more civility and basic humanity reading /b/, and one could be forgiven for thinking that the entire player-base of WoW is like that. However, in the early days there was actually a great deal of interesting discussion going on there. It could get heated at times, but nothing like what you see today.

Those who are not walking proof of GIFT get driven away. Some will fight it, but most just get fatigued. Personally, I used to regularly participate in the major Asatru mailing lists. I don't think I've written a single post or read more than a dozen posts in the last ... oh, almost a decade now.

Regarding fundamentalist Asatru, I'm also of a mind that this is largely an Internet phenomena. I've had a very large number of interesting, rewarding and mutually respectful conversations regarding religion with people of varying faiths or the lack there-of (different branches of Protestants, Mormons, Muslims, Athiests, etc). These have all been face-to-face. Online, I generally don't discuss religion at all. If it's not the Bible thumping Christian fundamentalists making such discussions pointless, it's the Dawkin's thumping Athiest fundamentalists.

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[info]greyorm
2008-11-20 06:55 am UTC (link)
All true, I know. But ARG. Still drives me nuts.

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[info]tundra_no_caps
2008-11-20 04:42 am UTC (link)
Making use of 'bed-wetting' as a trait to denigrate people isn't cool, people who suffer from that issue really do suffer.

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[info]greyorm
2008-11-20 06:54 am UTC (link)
I'm sure they do, but it is "cool" (ie: OK), because words can mean more than one thing (like that just there). Stop internalizing externalities. Context matters.

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[info]dwaleberry
2008-11-20 09:42 am UTC (link)
Ha, great post. You summed the issue up pretty well. Seriously, for people who supposedly worship a pantheon whose leader is the god of knowledge and wisdom, there are a lot of lobotomized dumbasses up and about. Then again, the Allfather is in need of unthinking shocktroops to send in the Jotunn's direction, so maybe even those will serve a greater purpose.

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[info]he_who_hunts
2008-11-20 11:47 am UTC (link)
One could replace "Asatru" with "Any Religion."

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[info]greyorm
2008-11-22 05:00 am UTC (link)
Not in this case. There's a very specific type of behavioral assholery that occurs among Asatru that doesn't occur in other religions. Assholery, yes. The thick-headed testosterone-laden super-jock, no.

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[info]he_who_hunts
2008-11-22 02:22 pm UTC (link)
Ever heard of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes?

But I get your point. Any given organized group of any sort has its own, special woes to inflict on society.

This is why I tend to stay away from them.

I'll be honest, I have no idea what Asatru is, so I'd be happy if you'd explain to us n00bs.

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[info]greyorm
2008-11-22 09:48 pm UTC (link)
Ahh, sorry. Asatru is a re reconstructionist pagan religion, focused on the gods of northern Europe, specifically the Norse gods (Odin, Thor, Freya, and so forth), and devotion to the values of the ancient Norse such as family, hospitality, self-reliance, courage, honor, and so on. It tends to be populated by scholars and thinkers, but not always.

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