InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "do me"

Working For A Better Life (valkyrieofodin) wrote,
@ 2009-04-20 10:32:00

Current mood:	disappointed
Entry tags:	a matter of honor, and i thought they were different, fyrnsidu, yeah right

I Expect I'll Be Leaving Fyrnsidu
I knew it was coming, but yeah... I got asked why I don't support the get on board the bus with the AFA for our own headstone project... And I was honest and forthright. I figure that it is going to be censored completely or in large part. Once that happens no more Fyrnsidu for me. I won't stay in such a circumstance. Not to mention I won't really stay in an organization that wants to get in bed with the AFA anyway.

Why? Because at one time I had a friend who was treated quite badly by Stephen
Mcnallen. Because The AFA is in my opinion exclusionary of people who they do
not feel are 'worthy' of practicing Heathenry based on heritage.(I've had my own
run ins in the past though it was early in my Heathen experience)because I
frankly do not like their politics and I don't want to lie in bed with them. I
tend to try and be as peaceful as possible and get along with anyone. I know
there are good people in all organizations just as there are jerks in all
organizations and I have met some extremely worthy folks who were members of the
AFA which is terrific, but I can't say if they are the majority of not. I know
the AFA changed their 'outlook' at some point at least publicly but they still
leave a bad taste in my mouth and I don't want to support them in any vein. It's
who I am. If I have offended you I apologize in advance. But this is the truth.
And you did ask.

Frith,
ayla

(Post a new comment)

	lokiswench 2009-04-20 04:31 pm UTC (link)
	I didn't think you were that involved with Fyrnsidu anyway. (Reply to this) (Thread)

valkyrieofodin
2009-04-20 06:08 pm UTC (link)

In the beginning I really wanted to be. And I cared about it a great deal. As time went on I kind of let it go, esp. once S joined. It just wasn't what I was looking for and she kind of ruined it for me. But I was excited about it to begin with. I really was. I'm honestly just not a joiner,and even having them entertain the idea of getting on the AFA bandwagon made me quiver with distaste. So fuck it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

weofodthignen.livejournal.com
2009-05-03 02:10 pm UTC (link)

Hmm. The organizer of the effort is Judy, who's been on HT list for ages and has never made any exclusionary noises. Moreover she has been quite emphatic about this effort needing the help of anyone who thinks veterans should have this right. In fact on HT list she was quite impatient about an idea she'd got somewhere that The Troth was not prepared to take advantage of an offer of help on it from Starhawk and co :-)

I don't know what support you were being expected to lend to the effort, but so far it doesn't strike me as tainted or grandstanding. She's been impressing me with her practicality and her focus on the task.

FWIW. I can quite understand your not being willing to work with the AFA, but so far I'm impressed that this is not "an AFA project."

Frith,
M

PS: I'm on dreamwidth, same ID, I just haven't done anything with it yet except start adding friends.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

valkyrieofodin
2009-05-04 10:01 pm UTC (link)

I can respect that other people want to support this. And I do feel that our Veterans deserve to have their own symbol(s) on their gravestones. But, being that I have had so much b.s. when entering Heathenry/Asatru in the early days(and I still run into assholes from time to time)telling me that I don't have a right to practice based on my ethnicity or even in some cases that "your parents would have set you out for the wolves as a baby" because of my seizure disorder(which is false btw as it didn't start until I was two so they'd have been stuck with me). I tend to avoid anything to do with the AFA. At one time I was of the opinion that working with the project was all 'good' and that the ends justified the means. But the more I thought about this over the past two years, the more I felt that the concept of the ends justifying the means somehow made me as an individual as bad as them. One of the reasons I joined Fyrnsidu to begin with is that I was assured they kept themselves separate from the rest of the Heathen community as a whole and that they were an entity unto themselves. When I start to see this, I feel like they are just 'falling into line' with everyone else and I like being there less and less. I'm not much of a joiner as you know to begin with and I feel that me being part of any organization is just probably not for the best. I think I'm just too much my own person with my own issues and my own ideals and I'm probably always going to end up going my own way in the end.

frith
ayla

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

(Anonymous)
2009-05-05 12:33 pm UTC (link)

Well you know HT is so loose I don't even keep a membership list, and that you would be welcome to return to associating with us in any way you wished even if we weren't that loose :-)

But I'm surprised that Fyrnsidu was characterized that way to you. Maybe all they meant was that they were not affiliated with The Troth or any other org. I've been impressed with things they've done in the last few years since a year or so after the merger with the Ealdriht was called off. But they positively encourage dual membership, have added a message saying they interpret "heathen" as including Celtic, they've been very welcoming to the Kalderans, and in general I think of them as one of the less separate and distinct heathen orgs., not more. Not that that's bad in itself, let me repeat. But the opposite impression.

Frith,
M

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

valkyrieofodin
2009-05-05 03:23 pm UTC (link)

Well I don't see myself as keeping a close association with them by any means... I'm just not good at close long term associations. I think that probably I am best with associating with individual heathens whom I admire or very small groups(Kindreds). It's just who I am. Maybe it's due to the fact I didn't really start associating with anything web-based until much later in life... (my 30's)Or maybe it's a variety of other factors, I don't know. But I'll always be what I am. I know they've been welcoming to at least a couple of the folks you deem "Kalderans" though I don't really like that term applied to them. I probably fall close to that mark myself in some people's books after all. *shrug* I know that you'd like me to come back to HT and in the course of time it might even happen though at this stage in the game it is seriously doubtful as I take more and more time away from the computer and become more active locally in my community.

Frith,
ayla

(Reply to this) (Parent)