I'm
a bit at a loss for words right now. A couple of colleagues and then my
partner just shared with me an online exchange that frankly makes the
contents of my stomach roil -- and I've been on the receiving end of
quite a bit of misogynistic and/or virulent attacks. My partner has
written about the specifics here, and provides a screen cap of the offensive comments.
Basically, we have a self-styled "elder" (though I can hardly think of anyone who deserves that appellation less and he's certainly no one of worth, let alone an elder, in any tradition that I practice) Christian Day who recently 'outed' a number of witches in an online forum for working under pseudonyms. When one of these women contacted him pointing out that she was being stalked and harassed to particularly dangerous levels and that she used a pseudonym for her safety, he not only dismissed her comments, but went on to say that he hoped her stalker was successful and that she should call out his (Christian's) name when she was being raped.
Yes. you read that correctly.
This is vile, disgusting, unconscionable.
This is completely unacceptable in any human being but it is especially so in someone who claims a leadership position. Elders and leaders have a sacred trust to their traditions and to their people. Making himself and his co-religionists a laughing stock over an actor's intoxicated rambles is one thing, this is quite another.
I really hope for the sake of Paganism that there is a massive outcry over this and that he faces consequences from his own people. Those in the traditions he practices deserve better in their leaders. So what are you going to do?
Edit: Wayland Skallagrimson chimes in most emphatically here.
Basically, we have a self-styled "elder" (though I can hardly think of anyone who deserves that appellation less and he's certainly no one of worth, let alone an elder, in any tradition that I practice) Christian Day who recently 'outed' a number of witches in an online forum for working under pseudonyms. When one of these women contacted him pointing out that she was being stalked and harassed to particularly dangerous levels and that she used a pseudonym for her safety, he not only dismissed her comments, but went on to say that he hoped her stalker was successful and that she should call out his (Christian's) name when she was being raped.
Yes. you read that correctly.
This is vile, disgusting, unconscionable.
This is completely unacceptable in any human being but it is especially so in someone who claims a leadership position. Elders and leaders have a sacred trust to their traditions and to their people. Making himself and his co-religionists a laughing stock over an actor's intoxicated rambles is one thing, this is quite another.
I really hope for the sake of Paganism that there is a massive outcry over this and that he faces consequences from his own people. Those in the traditions he practices deserve better in their leaders. So what are you going to do?
Edit: Wayland Skallagrimson chimes in most emphatically here.
source here: http://goo.gl/ObRVLi
