David19
December 22nd, 2007, 03:55 PM
I just came across this article by "Robin Artisson"/Tony, and am quite frankly, really pissed off at it, it's full of fascism against Islam, and shows that even Pagans can be assholes.
He starts off by using the example of a girl killed for not wearing the hijab, and then uses it to lauch an attack on all Muslims and Islam in its entirety.
Here's the article (http://cauldronborn.blogspot.com/):
And yet, they flock to our shores, to our cities, to our beautiful and green lands, where they can live with their children in peace, unconcerned about carbombs blowing up constantly, unconcerned about grinding poverty, and with their rights protected in ways that they were never protected in whatever place they left behind. This good world in Europe and North America- one of peace, protection, and prosperity, is one that WE have made through our values, our love of freedom, and our hard work, and while enjoying the fruits of it, these visitors simultaneously attack our culture as "decadent" or "the Great Satan".
And worst of all, they drag their demented religious ideals here.
I've heard all the apologetics. I wish I had a quarter for every dazed-looking person who's repeated the tired mantra to me: "It's not Islam... Islam is a peaceful religion... it's just those bad people who take it wrong..." or better yet "It's not Islam... it's just cultural realities that were around long before Islam..."
Sure. I reject these nonsensical apologetics, which do nothing but protect the flawed status-quo, just as those apologeticists were programmed to do. And I especially reject, with great disgust, those Westerners who have succumbed to the scourge of idiocy that we call "political correctness" and who defend Islam despite the fact that they've never had to live under the tyrannical rule of Shari'a law or these bastard theocratic misogynists.
Islam is not "okay". It is an absolutist faith that would force every single person on the planet to become Muslim if it could get away with it. And when I say "Islam", I mean the people who believe in it, and practice it, and promulgate it, because THAT is where a religion is found. A religion is not a mysterious "free floating" abstract thing that exists apart from people. Religion is inseparable from the people who believe in it and keep it alive
I've just highlighted some of his BS. Now I'm making excuses for the father who killed the girl, he's an idiot, and I have no doubt he'll have to answer to his God for his crimes. But to use this attack on an innocent girl as an excuse to launch his racist attack on all Muslims and Islam is just wrong, IMO.
He seems to be saying Europe and North America are "the light of civilization", I'd love to tell "Robin"/Tony that "no offence, but you're culture was built on the backs of slavery, massacre, and torture".
He doesn't seem to understand that there are Muslims who are critical of the fundamentalists, who are working to change Islam (look at the workds of Irshad Manji (http://www.irshadmanji.com/), etc).
It's funny, elsewhere on the site, he gives the impression that he's not racist, or that the Gods (he says he's a Heathen, although that's up for some debate) don't choose people based on "race" or skin colour (and yet he links to the Asatru Folk Assembly, which claims just the opposite, I think).
He just seems to be saying that America and European societies are the "best" and other cultures should strive to be like them. IMO, I think that's nothing more than cultural and religious imperialism.
I also don't like, near the end of the article, he says this:
I think that she will rest well in the Halls of the Lady of the Vanir. She stood up, in her small way, against a tide that was much, much larger than her or her ignorant father. And these small efforts matter, even if they don't seem to. I would have welcomed this girl into my own town, and I regret her loss. Her father- along with any woman or girl murdering jackass in this world- has offended the Disir, the feminine spirits that protect all families, especially their female members, and his fate will be dark because of it.
Even though she was a Muslim, just 'cause she was liberal and strong enough not to wear the hijab 'cause a man (her father) said so, doesn't make her less of a Muslim, and now "Robin"/Tony is saying she'll go to Freya's hall (I'm guessing Freya, as she's the only Vanic Goddess I know who was also called the Lady (seeing that her name meant Lady)) and that the Disir will make the father pay. To me, this is religious imperialism, and I'm going to quote an statement from the Asatru Folk Alliance, which I like:
To argue that all humans are descended of Ask and Embla is to say that the myths of every other native culture are wrong, and that only ours is right. From the Australian Outback to the depths of Africa, groups have their own explanations for how they came to be. It is the
height of arrogance to assume that our stories apply to them, and that the sacred tales of their own people are false. Unless we assume that their lore is inferior and inaccurate, we are forced to the logical conclusion that each group is right - so long as it speaks to its own people, and no other.
Now, the article was actually saying why the Norse "first humans" myth shouldn't be taken universally, but I think it can be used here, as it's saying unless you're saying all other religions are wrong and the Norse religion and Gods are the only real ones, you shouldn't apply everything in the Heathen religion universally (i.e. not everyone goes to the Norse afterlife, unless you're stating all religions have got the conceptions of the afterlife wrong, etc).
The Disir statement doesn't so much bother me, as it could be argued that the female ancestors of this girl will make the father pay (as everyone has ancestors and, in pretty much every religion, including Abrahamic ones, the dead are considered quite powerful), although I wouldn't call them Disir, but that's just a small criticism.
He seems to basically want to say "Muslims are evil, Islam is evil, lets stop them all coming into our country and expell the ones who are already here", I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in his house, he has a KKK outfit.
I also love the irony of the article, he says Islam and Muslims are basically "barbaric" and "backwards" and have no morals, and "Robin"/Tony, when he's hardly the poster child to say what's "acceptable", while his wife was pregnant, he was apparantly cheating on her with a deranged follower of his (while also continuing to take this followers money), and apparantly, it's not the first time he cheated, while Joseph Wilson, founder of the 1734 Tradition (http://1734.com/index.shtml) and student of Robert Cochrane, was dying of cancer, "Robin"/Tony sent "curses"/insults to his list or e-mail 'cause he felt Joseph was ignoring him, how anyone could do that to someone dying of cancer is beyond me and, from what I hear, a lot of his work is actually plagarized from other sources and he's apparantly be sued or in the process of being sued for this reason (also, he tried to show that he was in the same league and Nigel Jackson or Paul Huson, and both have dismissed him as a loon). How anyone like that can say another group is "immoral" is beyond me.
BTW, even though the site is technically an Heathen site, and he says he's a Heathen, he also considers himself a Traditional Witch (Traditional Witchcraft is a topic in itself to describe, but it basically refers to Robert Cochrane-derived traditions and witchcraft practices that take their inspiration from pre-Christian practices and folklore). Also, he has a site called Pendragon (http://pendragon343.com/), which is quite a fluffy Wiccan site, and, if I'm remembering rightly, recommends and admires SRW on that site (it's also been update rather recently, so it shows he may not entirely be a Heathen). You can also find posts of his where he's a Druid, a Hellenic recon, a Satanist, a Gnostic Christian, etc (I've also been told he's been trolling the Buddhist community and has also referred to himself as "king of all Druids").
Anyway, I'd really like your thoughts on the article, or your opinion of "Robin"/Tony from the site (also, see his other sites: here (http://www.robinartisson.com/cran.htm),here (http://www.robinartisson.com/mera/enter.html) and his Druid site (http://www.robinartisson.com/llysdon/index.html)).
Thanks.
He starts off by using the example of a girl killed for not wearing the hijab, and then uses it to lauch an attack on all Muslims and Islam in its entirety.
Here's the article (http://cauldronborn.blogspot.com/):
And yet, they flock to our shores, to our cities, to our beautiful and green lands, where they can live with their children in peace, unconcerned about carbombs blowing up constantly, unconcerned about grinding poverty, and with their rights protected in ways that they were never protected in whatever place they left behind. This good world in Europe and North America- one of peace, protection, and prosperity, is one that WE have made through our values, our love of freedom, and our hard work, and while enjoying the fruits of it, these visitors simultaneously attack our culture as "decadent" or "the Great Satan".
And worst of all, they drag their demented religious ideals here.
I've heard all the apologetics. I wish I had a quarter for every dazed-looking person who's repeated the tired mantra to me: "It's not Islam... Islam is a peaceful religion... it's just those bad people who take it wrong..." or better yet "It's not Islam... it's just cultural realities that were around long before Islam..."
Sure. I reject these nonsensical apologetics, which do nothing but protect the flawed status-quo, just as those apologeticists were programmed to do. And I especially reject, with great disgust, those Westerners who have succumbed to the scourge of idiocy that we call "political correctness" and who defend Islam despite the fact that they've never had to live under the tyrannical rule of Shari'a law or these bastard theocratic misogynists.
Islam is not "okay". It is an absolutist faith that would force every single person on the planet to become Muslim if it could get away with it. And when I say "Islam", I mean the people who believe in it, and practice it, and promulgate it, because THAT is where a religion is found. A religion is not a mysterious "free floating" abstract thing that exists apart from people. Religion is inseparable from the people who believe in it and keep it alive
I've just highlighted some of his BS. Now I'm making excuses for the father who killed the girl, he's an idiot, and I have no doubt he'll have to answer to his God for his crimes. But to use this attack on an innocent girl as an excuse to launch his racist attack on all Muslims and Islam is just wrong, IMO.
He seems to be saying Europe and North America are "the light of civilization", I'd love to tell "Robin"/Tony that "no offence, but you're culture was built on the backs of slavery, massacre, and torture".
He doesn't seem to understand that there are Muslims who are critical of the fundamentalists, who are working to change Islam (look at the workds of Irshad Manji (http://www.irshadmanji.com/), etc).
It's funny, elsewhere on the site, he gives the impression that he's not racist, or that the Gods (he says he's a Heathen, although that's up for some debate) don't choose people based on "race" or skin colour (and yet he links to the Asatru Folk Assembly, which claims just the opposite, I think).
He just seems to be saying that America and European societies are the "best" and other cultures should strive to be like them. IMO, I think that's nothing more than cultural and religious imperialism.
I also don't like, near the end of the article, he says this:
I think that she will rest well in the Halls of the Lady of the Vanir. She stood up, in her small way, against a tide that was much, much larger than her or her ignorant father. And these small efforts matter, even if they don't seem to. I would have welcomed this girl into my own town, and I regret her loss. Her father- along with any woman or girl murdering jackass in this world- has offended the Disir, the feminine spirits that protect all families, especially their female members, and his fate will be dark because of it.
Even though she was a Muslim, just 'cause she was liberal and strong enough not to wear the hijab 'cause a man (her father) said so, doesn't make her less of a Muslim, and now "Robin"/Tony is saying she'll go to Freya's hall (I'm guessing Freya, as she's the only Vanic Goddess I know who was also called the Lady (seeing that her name meant Lady)) and that the Disir will make the father pay. To me, this is religious imperialism, and I'm going to quote an statement from the Asatru Folk Alliance, which I like:
To argue that all humans are descended of Ask and Embla is to say that the myths of every other native culture are wrong, and that only ours is right. From the Australian Outback to the depths of Africa, groups have their own explanations for how they came to be. It is the
height of arrogance to assume that our stories apply to them, and that the sacred tales of their own people are false. Unless we assume that their lore is inferior and inaccurate, we are forced to the logical conclusion that each group is right - so long as it speaks to its own people, and no other.
Now, the article was actually saying why the Norse "first humans" myth shouldn't be taken universally, but I think it can be used here, as it's saying unless you're saying all other religions are wrong and the Norse religion and Gods are the only real ones, you shouldn't apply everything in the Heathen religion universally (i.e. not everyone goes to the Norse afterlife, unless you're stating all religions have got the conceptions of the afterlife wrong, etc).
The Disir statement doesn't so much bother me, as it could be argued that the female ancestors of this girl will make the father pay (as everyone has ancestors and, in pretty much every religion, including Abrahamic ones, the dead are considered quite powerful), although I wouldn't call them Disir, but that's just a small criticism.
He seems to basically want to say "Muslims are evil, Islam is evil, lets stop them all coming into our country and expell the ones who are already here", I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in his house, he has a KKK outfit.
I also love the irony of the article, he says Islam and Muslims are basically "barbaric" and "backwards" and have no morals, and "Robin"/Tony, when he's hardly the poster child to say what's "acceptable", while his wife was pregnant, he was apparantly cheating on her with a deranged follower of his (while also continuing to take this followers money), and apparantly, it's not the first time he cheated, while Joseph Wilson, founder of the 1734 Tradition (http://1734.com/index.shtml) and student of Robert Cochrane, was dying of cancer, "Robin"/Tony sent "curses"/insults to his list or e-mail 'cause he felt Joseph was ignoring him, how anyone could do that to someone dying of cancer is beyond me and, from what I hear, a lot of his work is actually plagarized from other sources and he's apparantly be sued or in the process of being sued for this reason (also, he tried to show that he was in the same league and Nigel Jackson or Paul Huson, and both have dismissed him as a loon). How anyone like that can say another group is "immoral" is beyond me.
BTW, even though the site is technically an Heathen site, and he says he's a Heathen, he also considers himself a Traditional Witch (Traditional Witchcraft is a topic in itself to describe, but it basically refers to Robert Cochrane-derived traditions and witchcraft practices that take their inspiration from pre-Christian practices and folklore). Also, he has a site called Pendragon (http://pendragon343.com/), which is quite a fluffy Wiccan site, and, if I'm remembering rightly, recommends and admires SRW on that site (it's also been update rather recently, so it shows he may not entirely be a Heathen). You can also find posts of his where he's a Druid, a Hellenic recon, a Satanist, a Gnostic Christian, etc (I've also been told he's been trolling the Buddhist community and has also referred to himself as "king of all Druids").
Anyway, I'd really like your thoughts on the article, or your opinion of "Robin"/Tony from the site (also, see his other sites: here (http://www.robinartisson.com/cran.htm),here (http://www.robinartisson.com/mera/enter.html) and his Druid site (http://www.robinartisson.com/llysdon/index.html)).
Thanks.