Hate

Okay folks, so I've seen a couple of distressing things lately.  The first is a GIF on Imgur, in which a man is holding a copy of Twilight and begins to tear it up in front of three fangirls.  Two freak out and the third instantly goes for the headlock on this guy.  Now make sure you're wearing rubber soled shoes with your feet on the ground, because coming from me this is going to be pretty shocking.

I think the guy who tore the book is completely in the wrong.

Now don't misunderstand me, I hate Twilight.  Not only is it poorly written, but it portrays abusive relationships as not only normal, but something to be sought after.  Don't believe me?  Go watch Laci Green on youtube where she reviews the book from a psychological stance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8gpHK5orJQ

That being said, people have every right to read and enjoy what they want.  The fact that this guy destroyed a book, a BOOK, because he apparently doesn't like it, is horrifying and disgusting to me.  You don't want people to read the book, or you want people to read the book with open eyes, talk to them like a reasonable adult.  Don't destroy their property.  I am just as offended over this as I am over the large Christian groups that still hold book burning gatherings for the Harry Potter series, because regardless of your beliefs or opinions of a thing you have to respect other peoples rights to have different beliefs and opinions.

Which brings me quite nicely into my next subject.

Fox and Friends, a show on Fox News, recently did a report on Pagans/Wiccans wanting to have their holidays recognized by their university.  In this report they released a lot of bigoted misinformation that hurt me, because I am a Pagan.  Firstly, the students wanted their holidays to be recognized; as is their right as American citizens, and the fact that Fox would openly mock them and defame their religion is disgusting and upsetting.

Secondly,  they state that Pagans are a minority, which is true, but the way they put it is a little screwy.  I have two problems with this one.  Problem 1, they compare Pagans to Zoastrians, a little known Pagan faith, stating that there are more Zoastrians than Pagans.  This is like saying their are more Catholics than Christians, which doesn't make any logical sense and is wildly inaccurate.  Problem 2,  it's insanely difficult to get an accurate reading on how many Pagans are in the U.S. much less the world at large.  This is caused by a variety of factors, but the biggest one is fear.  Many Pagans fear retribution from their families and their communities if the are openly Pagan, due to the high amount of misinformation and hate directed at Pagans. This especially makes this report concerning because they are adding to this misinformation. In addition, the many Pagan faiths are largely practiced either solitarily or in small groups that have no need to report attendance to a census.

In their report on anchor goes so far as to claim that the only people who are Pagan are middle aged rural living women who love incense and have been divorced several times and Dungeons and Dragons fanatics.  I'm a 22 year old male that loves DND, and has been divorced.  However, many of my Pagan friends are neither of those things.  I have a friend who is in the United States Airforce, Pagan.  Physics major in college, Pagan.  Communications officer in the Army, Pagan. Professional graphic designer, Pagan.  Registered Pagan minister. Music major in college, Pagan. The list goes on and on of people from all ages and walks of life who are Pagan.

He also states that Wiccans and Pagans can't name all their holidays, I can in order by the way (Samhain, Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasdah, Mabon,) and that Pagans celebrate 20 holidays.  Wrong, 20% of all holidays celebrated by the majority of people in the U.S. are Pagan in origin, therefore 20% of all holidays are Pagan holidays.  We have eight holidays.

He also bashes the religion saying that any religion that's most sacred day is Halloween shouldn't be taken seriously.  First, Samhain, which is pronounced sow-wen is an ancient festival of the last harvest marking the end of the year that was celebrated for thousands of years prior to being reformed into Halloween and eventually changed to the commercialized travesty it is today.  Don't get me wrong, Halloween is awesome.  Who doesn't love free candy and a shot to be someone else just for a day?  But it's a bastardization of an ancient festival. Secondly, Pagans have no one most sacred day.  All of our holidays are equally sacred, because they celebrate the divinity of nature and the turning of the seasons. Here is a link with more info on when and why the celebrations happen.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheel_of_the_Year

They also seem to think that because Pagans are minority that we can't expect the same rights as the majority.  That isn't the way the country works guys, and thank all the Gods for that.  The country is a republic, in which we elect representatives to represent our views on the local, state, and national levels.  The best part about this is that it allows good people to over rule what would otherwise be a tyranny of the majority over the minority.  It allows people to say "Hey, that's not cool.  He believes differently than you so you're going to stone him to death? Well that should be illegal." and make it happen even if the majority are the ones doing the stoning.

Long story short, all this hate is toxic and I'm convinced it's ruining the world.  There are a couple of petitions out there asking for a public apology from Fox News, but since I can't get any of them to work for me I'll let you figure that one out for your selves.  What I will do is link the original story from Fox and Friends so you can see exactly what I'm talking about.  I'd link the GIF, but I don't know how.

Until next time guys, which should be pretty soon hopefully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Gm41k7tNhVI