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Obese Wiccans, Part 2
I was all set to write a really mean send-up of this person’s response to one of my older articles, but then I realized there’s really no point. Either this person just didn’t even READ what it was that I wrote, or else they just wanted to spout off in defense of something that really doesn’t need defending - an idea. In any case, here’s an email I just received:
I was skimming your article at (http://www.timboucher.com/journal/2006/02/04/obese-wiccans/) and I would like to point out a few basic facts. Wicca is a religeon, and like all other religeons (Christianity included) there are people who follow it differently.
I will tell you that a true wiccan would never do anything to harm another person or even help them without their permission. Also, many sites on the web will advertise false information about witchcraft in order to sell things, and therefore many young people are mislead in their follow of wicca.
Also, wicca is a true religeon, and those who actually took the time to research it would know that we do have written regulations and in fact very strict customs to become a true wiccan (it is common to be wiccan in the sense that you share the beliefs but are not a true wiccan). In fact, many true wiccans do not use magick at all, definitely not serious magick that would be powerful enough to make someone fat.
I believe that some of the posts in the mentioned article are rude and an insult to wiccans. If somebody spoke of you in an ill manner or wished/tried to cause harm upon any individual they are NOT wiccan.
I do not wish for you to contact me, but please keep in mind next time you make a web page to try to seperate fact from opinion so as not to post false information.
Thank you Internet Police. Er, I will try to be more careful next time? How about we make a deal - next time you read through my article and actually notice that I was coming to the defense of Wiccans for once? Deal? Deal.
- Obese Wiccans
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- Groundhog Day & Religion
- Our Stories, Our Labels, Our Lives
- Traditional Greek Religion Survives?
- Prev: Slime Mold Incites Motion in Robot
- Next: Life’s Mission
March 1st, 2006 at 7:40 am
Damn, did that person even read the article or just the title….
March 1st, 2006 at 9:08 am
Dear Tim,
First you make kmee so upset by putting a header on your post so eaily construed by kmee as vicious and offensive that eye could not continue reading and just had to defend m’eye perceived identity by setting you straight–and all those, eye’m just sure of it, offensive posters. But then you add shit sprinkles to the maligning cake by posting a sequel! Eye just don’t even gno where to begin. Eye simply ask, in the name of all Wiccans and of Wicca (well, the true Wicca, with membership in the club attained through the appropriate channels and approved rituals–no self-studiers here!), that you please cease and desist from making kmee so sad by your headings! Also, henceforth, eye strongly suggest that you take full responsibility for all of m’eye emotional reactions and knee-jerk assumptions. That is, after all, the reasonable thing for you to do.
Love and sprinkles,
Victiminus Moonbeam
March 1st, 2006 at 9:57 am
This person must truly be quite a scholar, what with misspelling “religion” throughout their note.
March 1st, 2006 at 11:25 am
Hilarious!!
Indeed Tim, don’t bother. It was even too kind of you to think about answering back!
March 1st, 2006 at 11:59 am
Well, I won’t argue that it’s a good idea to use magic(k) to take revenge upon a person who torments you because of your weight (although the story in the original post was quite funny, the one about the Wiccan girl who was teased by a “mean girl” who ended up becoming even fatter).
But, um…. [addressing the angry letter-writer] Who are you to say what is “real” Wicca and what is not “real” Wicca? That’s like various Christians claiming that their version of Christianity is the only “true” Christianity. I appreciate that you are finding moral or ethical fault with somebody else’s practice of a religion (note the correct spelling) that appears in name to be the same as yours. And, ethics of spell-casting (or any other form of directed prayer) are well worth serious consideration and debate. But it really isn’t up to you to judge other people.
***
I am guessing that this person is worried about the brand of Wicca, and that Wicca might be perceived to be populated by bitter fat girls taking evil revenge on their tormentors. But the fact is, Wicca is associated with certain forms of ceremonial magic(k), and to some extent getting what you want. If she wants a religion that has a different reputation, she might consider becoming a Catholic. All the same rites and prayers are available, plus a multiplicity of minor deities that are conveniently labelled “saints” so as not to offend the monotheistically inclined.
March 1st, 2006 at 12:09 pm
Dear Tim,
I am writing you to demonstrate every possible negative cliche about wiccans, thus lending more credibility to people who say we dont bother to think thinks through. If someone rites you and says that wiccan is a TRUE RELIGEON then they are NOT a true wiccan.
I do not wish for you to contact me because I do not want to have to answer questions about my very tenuous understanding of my owen religeon.
P.S. I am fat.
March 1st, 2006 at 12:09 pm
;)
March 1st, 2006 at 12:14 pm
P.P.S. I used to be thin before a fake Wiccan cast a spell on me.
P.P.P.S. I’m worried that the fat-spell I cast on you might not work.
March 1st, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I have to admit, when I read the first part of this (Obese Wiccans 1), I thought you were way off base. I’ve read Urban Voodoo, and thought the criticism were pretty spot on. Your letter writer, with her talk of “a true wiccan would never do anything to harm another person or even help them without their permission” is a pretty classic example of the non-Witch, a occultist scared of the occult, a magician who fears magic. I’ve found that the people who most strongly believe Wicca is a relihgion treat it like most religions: a soul-crushing obligation to a mythical higher power, all circling around a doctrine by which being powerless is redefined as powerful.
March 1st, 2006 at 3:58 pm
Hebrides, that was hilarious.
I vote the “no true scotsman” fallacy should be renamed “no true wiccan” in honor of this moonbat.
March 1st, 2006 at 8:09 pm
There’s a LOT of that too even within the most hermetic circles of occultism.
March 1st, 2006 at 8:49 pm
Not to be a wet blanket, but the letter writer said in the first sentence that they were skimming your article.
I would’ve stopped reading it right then and there.
March 2nd, 2006 at 10:12 am
Thanks for the comps, Haeresis!
As for YOU, james!–actually, eye like wet blankets, especially when they’re nice and warm and draped on the face. Very relaxing!
When did we start to malign wet blankets? (eye mean the one true wet blanket, by the way, not the other kind!–that kind of wet blanket, feel free to malign!)
You’re right, though. The letter writer did say they’d skimmed…but it just seemed more like she stopped at the header and then skimmed through the replies because otherwise, and eye’m no authority on skimming or speed reading, but it seems to kmee, she woulda perceived the sympathetic tone of tim’s article.
Malign is my word of the week, by the way.
Skidoo.
March 2nd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
Hebrides– it may sound funny, coming from a person like me who actively seeks out confrontation, but I find there’s more time to argue with people if you cut off the less-than-stellar arguers right away. Someone telling me that they skimmed through my article would automatically qualify them, in my mind, for a curt dismissal, since they didn’t even take the time to read what I had to say all the way through.
I think wet blankets are bad because, when you are trying to stay warm, they cool you down.