Saya vs SJWs: Part 1

If you haven't seen this photo montage yet, you probably don't frequent the same dark corners of reddit and tumblr that I do.  Congratulations!

In any case, the idea of cultural appropriation and paganism has been somewhat relevant on the 'net these past few weeks, and it's something that I've wanted to address before, but it's hard for me to come down on one side of the argument.  On the one hand, picking and choosing from different traditions and religions is kind of unethical, especially if the tradition from which one is cherry-picking is unknown to you.  Note: I did not say that it is unethical if it is foreign (as in culturally or ethnically) to you, only that if the tidbit you have claimed as your own is something you saw off-handedly in a witch's encyclopedia and it "seemed kind of cool" so you took it.  Kaatryn MacMorgan-Douglas does a good job of addressing the difference in her book The Ethical Eclectic, which I highly recommend.

The other angle from which cultural appropriation is relevant to paganism is what is seen above: aspects of paganism that (most) pagans hold sacred are being appropriated into popular culture by people who do not know (or care) about their significance to a minority group (us).  One such example is the pentagram, which has spiritual significance to a great many pagans of varying paths and traditions, and which is also regarded by mainstream culture as "bad" or even demonic.  While the majority of pagans might be able to brush this off as simple ignorance, others get incredibly butthurt about it.  There is kind of an overlap between pagans and SJWs (Social Justice Warriors, a pejorative term described by urban dictionary as "an individual who repeatedly and vehemently engages in arguments on social justice on the Internet, often in a shallow or not well-thought-out way, for the purpose of raising their own personal reputation. A social justice warrior, or SJW, does not necessarily strongly believe all that they say, or even care about the groups they are fighting on behalf of. They typically repeat points from whoever is the most popular blogger or commenter of the moment, hoping that they will 'get SJ points' and become popular in return. They are very sure to adopt stances that are 'correct' in their social circle").

So, you might say, what's the issue?  Isn't it offensive when the culture at large appropriates our spirituality?  To answer that, I say, the ignorance is annoying, maybe even offensive, but is it really causing us harm?  Some would say that, yes, it does.  It gives people the idea that all pagans are devil-worshippers and so on.  There is a certain truth to that, but my experience has been different.  When I openly wore a pentacle, I received more curiosity than outright damning, and I live in the thick of the Bible Belt.  I have never in my life been accused of devil worship or anything nefarious.  I understand that others' experiences have been different, but I don't see violence against pagans as a really serious problem.  We are seen as silly, sure, and it's a little tiring to never be taken seriously, but crying "oppression"?  Please.

And another thing.  When we say that appropriating ouija boards and pentagrams is offensive to the pagan community as a whole, we are stereotyping members of our own faith.  I, for one, could not give two shits if someone wanted to wear a pentacle or ouija board, because neither of those things means anything to me spiritually.  Saying that I should be offended by that simply because I am pagan is forcing me into a box that I don't belong in.  The pagan community, if indeed it can be called that, is so diverse that it really denies typing of that sort.

So instead of getting huffy about a Supernatural shirt, maybe we should focus on things that matter, like environmental issues and the fact that a lot of our fellow pagans live in abject poverty.  How about that?