When Heathenry Gets Political: White Supremacy and Tribal Dynamics

(Part 2)

Beowulf, Heathenry, tribalism, tribe, niding, othering

If you made it through Part 1 and came back, congrats. It was a tough slog. If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, I suggest you start there, and come back. This is the tougher of 2 parts, certainly the toughest for me to write, and reading my previous post will help lay the groundwork for understanding where I am coming from.

I want to open this part very clearly with the statement that racism is not acceptable, and we should not tolerate it in any aspects of our lives. We should definitely not tolerate it in modern inclusive Heathenry. I want to say we shouldn’t tolerate it in modern Heathenry at all, but since modern Heathenry grew out of white nationalist sentiments that ship has sailed. Rather, we must work to uplift inclusive Heathenry, because the reality is that the majority of modern Heathens today are inclusive Heathens and that number continues to grow rapidly. To me, racists aren’t Heathen. No fascism, not in my Heathenry. But ignoring history never goes well either. We have to be aware of our roots, and actively and effectively work to change our religion for the better.

In my view, there are two types of white supremacists that we find within what might be considered “Heathenry.” The first type are the ones who have decided outright they hate whichever group for whatever reason, and whatever you say or do isn’t going to change that. This is the type of “nazi” you all are wanting to metaphorically punch all the time. The problem is that while you are out there thinking you are “punching nazis” you are othering people who might actually change their views if you present a calm and concise argument. Don’t take this as we should not call out racism or bigotry of any kind. We absolutely should, and we absolutely must. We need to position ourselves as allies to minority groups. However, our goal must always be educational, rather than reactionary. If we other people, they won’t listen to what we are saying; it will push their views further and further from our own. If we are “punching nazis,” we are creating more nazis rather than decreasing their numbers. It feels good in the moment. You feel like you have “scored some points” and won the game against fascism. You haven’t. You just fumbled the ball, and 3 more white supremacists behind them who you didn’t see just became more set in their views. The reason for this is the second type of white supremacists.

The second type of white supremacists are the ones who never intended to be white supremacists. They somehow fell in with the wrong group and slowly felt their morals slipping away the longer they stuck around. In Heathenry this is even more pronounced than in the wider world, because of the focus on tribe. Heathens are so few and far between that we are constantly trying to find community.

Picture yourself as a new Heathen. You realize that you want to be Heathen and you are looking for a group to practice with. You live in a small town or medium sized city. You meet some guy, let’s call him Jerry, at a bar and he seems really nice. You and Jerry go out for drinks a few times and talk about Heathenry and you really feel like you are connecting. One day Jerry invites you over to meet his buddies, his tribe. You go to the house of some friend of his. You have a bonfire, and drinks, you all hail Odin and drink sumbl. They all seem nice. You hang out with them increasingly more frequently. Maybe something feels slightly off from the get go, but maybe not. If it does you push it aside. You are still learning the culture, so it is bound to be uncomfortable at first, right? No one says anything blatantly racist. Maybe one guy makes an inappropriate comment after a few too many drinks. You have heard this sort of talk before in the locker room at the hockey rink. This isn’t any different, right? You might even call him out if it weren’t for the fact you are new. There aren’t any other Heathen groups in town. You are still proving your worth to the tribe.

As you are proving your worth to the tribe, slowly more and more red flags arise. They are always only slight leaps from the last concession you made in your mind. You find yourself one more time not speaking up, even though you think it is wrong. Then another time. And another time. The longer you are with the group the more tied to them you feel. You oath into the tribe. You start making those same inappropriate jokes to fit in. You don’t really believe deep down it is right, but you want so badly to be part of this group, to feel a sense of community. You make more and more compromises until you don’t even recognize yourself.

This is the second type of white supremacist in Heathenry. These are the ones who can be educated or swayed if you manage not to other them.

The easiest way to stop racism in Heathenry is to prevent new Heathens from finding white supremacist groups first. That is why my list of inclusive Heathen groups in Canada is so important. You can find the link here. If you have an inclusive group that isn’t on the list you can find my email address there so you can contact me to include it. That entry exists so that you can find inclusive groups in your area. If there isn’t an inclusive group in your area, start one. You are not alone. Don’t let feelings of isolation cause you to join a group that isn’t right for you. It will not be worth it.

Now, sadly we don’t manage to catch every new Heathen before they meet up with the wrong people. The second type of white supremacists in Heathenry know on some level they have made a mistake (or a series of them) and they want an out, but are also afraid. They are afraid to just leave. They are afraid of being alone. They are afraid of being cast out of their tribe. They need a healthy feeling of belonging to a supportive and nurturing community. They might also feel in danger if they were to leave. This isn’t just me supposing, either. Research shows that people join gangs and extremist groups for a sense of belonging that they weren’t getting in their lives in some other way. When we approach these people with that hard line about everyone doing “x” being bad then they feel attacked, because they don’t mean to be bad. They feel othered. They close up and withdraw. They won’t tell you what is happening. You drive them further away and deeper into that life.

This isn’t easy to hear as an inclusive Heathen. You want to say with a hard line that bigotry is bad (because it is). You want to be a good ally to whatever groups that bigotry is targeting. But taking that hard line isn’t changing minds. The first type of white supremacist isn’t going to change no matter what you do, but you still need to give them that chance. We are all human, and the summation of our experiences, for better or for worse. The second, reluctant, kind of white supremacist is going to withdraw and not hear anything you say once you hard line them. What you need to do is promote discussion.

You need to check your feelings, because if you get too emotional you will ruin any chance of changing minds. You need to educate other Heathens on inclusive Heathenry. Don’t focus on the bigotry, focus on the inclusivity. Focus on the community. Show them that good inclusive Heathens are out there. Show them that they aren’t alone. Show them that they have choices, that they don’t have to be stuck, that there are people to help and people to listen. Show them that they can have tribe outside of white supremacy, but they need to take that first step on their own. It is scary to make a change. It is even scarier to leave your tribe behind. The research shows that people who leave gangs and extremist groups almost always do it because they make bonds with people outside that group first.

We, as Heathens, don’t need endless statements about groups outside of us. We don’t need to make sure everyone knows we aren’t associated with groups that aren’t even Heathen. We don’t need to give those groups any sort of publicity. We need to focus on our Heathenry, on our tribes, and our people, and on showing that inclusive Heathenry is out there and welcoming and that all Heathens have a choice.

I am sure I will hear some clapback on this one. It isn’t an easy thing to come to terms with. Let it percolate around for a little bit. Mull it over. Try to avoid reactionary response. I don’t care if you other me. I don’t need your agreement with my ideas. I have a healthy community who support me, but for Heathens who don’t have a healthy community their response will be different. They will be deeply hurt if you other them, they will feel they have no choice but to stay with a tribe who does questionable things (better the enemy you know right?) and then nothing will change. We are out there punching nazis to inflate egos, instead of actually making a difference to the face of Heathenry. We can wipe that smug grin off of our faces.

If we truly want to make a difference we have to actually put in the work, and the work isn’t going to be easy. We are going to make mistakes and not do it well sometimes. When we make mistakes we need to step up and own them. We need to brush ourselves off and try again. This isn’t the easy fight, but it is the necessary one.

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When Heathenry Gets Political: White Supremacy and Tribal Dynamics

(Part 2)

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