Clarifying Kinnish

Since my post on Breaking Kinnish, I have taken the time necessary to process the feedback I have received from that post. And I must admit, I was surprised by both the amount of positive feedback I received, and the lack of negative backlash. What I did see a lot of seemed to me to be misinterpretations and/or false inferences. So I’d like to address a few of those here in this post before I begin cultivating Kinnish in the next one. So here we go:

Kinnish is not Apathetic.

The Fuck Budget theme of Kinnish, which was inspired by a Sarah Knight Ted Talk, does not mean that I do not care about things like Racism. As I clearly stated in my post; I do not condone racism, I think it’s fucked up, and I think those people are assholes. I am openly and venomously opposed to racial segregation, and I was venomously opposed to it long before I was married to a Mexican woman or was a father to an African daughter.  

But, as I also already stated, people have a constitutional right to be assholes, and to determine the criteria for membership in their Viking Asshole Clubs. In much the same way Native Americans have the right to exclude non-Natives from membership in their clubs and activities.

My point was not, that I do not care about the issue of racism, but that although I disagree with it, they have the freedom to do as they please. I have always and will always speak up and speak out against it when the appropriate opportunity presents itself.  Which brings me to my next point.

Kinnish is not Falsely Entitled.

No. It is not our job or our place to “educate” others about the subtle nuances of “our faith.” For several reasons. First, because it’s a dick move. When you say you need to educate someone about something, by default, you’re implying that they’re “uneducated," which is a semi-polite way of saying they're ignorant. And as much as you might love to think so, not everyone who thinks differently than you is ignorant. The reality is that smart people disagree with you too, they just don’t waste their time trying to educate you; because, like I said, it’s kinda a dick move when it’s unsolicited. 

Second, there is no “our faith.” There is no universal theological cannon for Heathenry. As much as Heathens like to bash on Pagans, especially Wiccans, Heathens are just as bad as everyone else when it comes to a lack of cohesive unified theology.  So when you say “our faith” you’re only creating an “Us versus Them” construct of conflict, when the truth is that “we” are “all” unique in “our” beliefs, and that “we” really only share a theme and a vocabulary. So when you say “our faith,” what you really mean is "your" collection of beliefs, practices and personal preferences.

Third, who the fuck are you to “educate” anyone about anything? Especially in the case of the mindless orthopraxy that most people are calling their religion? It seems to be the mission of every hubris asshole I have ever met to “educate the masses,” which is just code for “everyone needs to hear and accept my point of view.” Yeah… good luck with that.

Kinnish is not Antagonistic.

If you didn’t pick up on it, the last bit about false entitlement is related to the argument that Heathens who identify as Folkish, but are not racist asshats, just need to educate people about what Folkish really means, and that we just need to “take back” the word folkish, and that we need to take back the sacred symbols being used by racists, like the Black Sun and the Othala rune.

 Antagonistic is generally defined as: showing or feeling active opposition or hostility toward someone or something. I chose this word to communicate my position here, because it’s more polite than using the word “Delusional.” Which is really how I feel.

Because, much like the swastika, which has become irrevocably tainted as symbol of racism; so has Folkish, and many of the symbols like the ones I already mentioned. I’ll just go ahead and gloss over the issue of falsely-entitled-ownership of these words and symbols, and just state plainly: that you never had ownership of these words and symbols, they were never yours, not yours to give, not yours to lose, not yours to take back. They’re freeware, anyone can use them however they want, like or not.

Those racist ass-hats *adopted* them, just like you did.

So rather than embrace this entitled concept of false ownership, and enter into this antagonistic relationship with, well, pretty much everyone who does not use them the way we want them to use them; I’ve decided to take this whole situation as an opportunity to do something much more constructive, and really kinda cool.

I’m starting a new tradition..