OK, Someone Finally Did It
Jan. 10th, 2009 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I read a post on the pagan forum that actually got me riled up & forced a reaction out of me. And I posted my reaction. And now I feel all stupid for letting it get to me, especially since I am not affected by it, nor do I know anyone who is affected by it (and if I do know someone affected by it, they've kept it quiet and personal).
It was a discussion about female circumcision. It wasn't even the fact that there are countries and cultures that practice female circumcision that got me riled up, but someone said that since these people had been practicing this for centuries, we who opposed it were wrong because these people didn't know any better & the opposers were infringing on their cultural rights. Someone else said it was like getting mad at a blind person for not knowing what the color red was.
It got under my nails like bamboo splinters.
I also had a bit of a revelation. I bash Gardnerians from time to time, mainly because I'm an ass. I read something on the 'net the other day about how 'Gardnerians just don't get it...' and I've been re-reading Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon so it got me thinking. Gardnerians may not get it (whatever it is), but without Gardner, most of us wouldn't have gotten it at all, even the Gardner-bashers (myself included). There is validity in Wicca, simply because it has gotten people to think in broader terms than most of the past 1000 years or so have allowed people to think. Gardner threw stuff out into the public light, and some people found it and called it good. Others found it & called it garbage. Some found it & called it dangerous. But it got a lot of people to open their eyes a little wider & take off the blinders. Honestly, how much of the stuff about witchcraft and magic would be on the internet or the bookshelves today if it wasn't for Witchcraft Today?
(Dude... I wish I'd had teh internets when I was a witch... I just found a website that lists the books in Gerald Gardner's estate... Gerald Gardner's Library)
It was a discussion about female circumcision. It wasn't even the fact that there are countries and cultures that practice female circumcision that got me riled up, but someone said that since these people had been practicing this for centuries, we who opposed it were wrong because these people didn't know any better & the opposers were infringing on their cultural rights. Someone else said it was like getting mad at a blind person for not knowing what the color red was.
It got under my nails like bamboo splinters.
I also had a bit of a revelation. I bash Gardnerians from time to time, mainly because I'm an ass. I read something on the 'net the other day about how 'Gardnerians just don't get it...' and I've been re-reading Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon so it got me thinking. Gardnerians may not get it (whatever it is), but without Gardner, most of us wouldn't have gotten it at all, even the Gardner-bashers (myself included). There is validity in Wicca, simply because it has gotten people to think in broader terms than most of the past 1000 years or so have allowed people to think. Gardner threw stuff out into the public light, and some people found it and called it good. Others found it & called it garbage. Some found it & called it dangerous. But it got a lot of people to open their eyes a little wider & take off the blinders. Honestly, how much of the stuff about witchcraft and magic would be on the internet or the bookshelves today if it wasn't for Witchcraft Today?
(Dude... I wish I'd had teh internets when I was a witch... I just found a website that lists the books in Gerald Gardner's estate... Gerald Gardner's Library)