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Has anyone who is Heathen or Asatru ever been accused of being white supremacist? I know it's not that well known of a religion, but I've had someone ask me if I'm okay with being associated with white supremacists. I'm not, but I've only encountered one person who made that connection.

It also raises the question of heritage pride. Should I be proud that I have white ancestors? I know socially I should be proud of my Native American ancestors (oh, isn't our society funny like that? "Minorities ought to be proud of themselves, but we're only going to truly revere the majority."), but being proud of my European history makes me feel weird.

Sounds good to me. The only time I've ever heard of Asatru being associated with white supremacists is in prisons.

The person who asked me that was also someone who thinks all religion is stupid and detrimental to society, so they may have just been trying to goad me into anger.

I liked the way they did that in 6 Feet Under, to a certain degree. After the first out-of-the-closet situation, it was just a guy and his boyfriend, really. But I too would like to see this more often, where someone being gay just isn't cause for comment, but a part of the character like whether they are single or attached, adopted or not, or where they are from.

I think the majority sometimes feels a little taken aback if told they can't be proud of being white, or straight or whatever. The concept of "Black pride" etc is because it was once (and to some degree, still is) considered something bad and to be ashamed of, and to be proud of it is to say "this is what I am, and I am happy to be this way, and given the chance, I wouldn't change it". So there's a good reason for them to display this pride. You can be white and happy to be white, and straight and happy to be straight, and why shouldn't you be? People should be happy to be themselves. But there's no reason to sing it from the rooftops, because it hasn't been something you and your recent ancestors have been told you should be ashamed of. When you do so, it's sort of interpreted as a way to spite minority groups who are trying to make their voices heard and their faces seen.

No one's accused me of being a white supremacist. I don't accept white supremacists into the guild either wink and I've seen a couple of people who could have fit that mold.

Occasionally I admit to some genetic pride that my ancestors travelled and settled so much of the world. I mean on the one hand, yes, colonialism was essentially a bad thing. I accept that. But I can't dismiss the effort and passion these people put into travelling to unknown lands, and settling there, and trading across the whole world. They could have been less jerk-y about it, but still. In the same way, I feel... not proud so much, but enthused, by the raids of the Vikings. Yes they looted and pillaged, and raped and murdered and so on. But they were BADASS.

Its an interesting concept. I for one was raised in a family that celebrated not just my blood, but like all of humanity? I mean yes my father would tell us of the vast Empire the Persians had created and of Darius the Great and Cyrus the Conqueror, of the Shannomeh and all that and my mom, less a history buff, showed us to be proud of heritage with tales of our family. But no less important were them telling us about the achievements of the Ancient Chinese or Romans, or Greeks. Simply put I was proud and am proud to be Persian(Italian, English and Polish) but also proud to be human. That was until 9/11.

After that I was labeled a terrorist and not a patriot among other things. So my pride has been more silent now. Its a bit like Afro said about feeling a tad weird of being proud of being white. I feel a tad weird of being Persian when so many, utterly ignorant but nonetheless vocal people, think that equals terrorist.

I think got off topic. XD

I like that. Capital P pride. That defines the difference well for me.

Persian: I really understand what you're saying, and that sucks. sad I'm sorry the Land of the Free is so narrow-minded.

I hate airports, too. They make me extremely paranoid, which is why I like the Milwaukee airport. They do not give one s**t there, let me tell ya.

"Oh, you seem to have unauthorized toothpaste in your bag. Go on through."

Seriously, I thought I was going to get arrested. FOR TOOTHPASTE.

*grumble grumble stupid racists mutter grumble*
I think one of the biggest issues with this for me is the music.
When I go poking around on the interwebz for some fun Heatheny music to add to my mix I make it a point to look up any bands I'm interested in. I want to know what associations they have so I'm certain I'm not supporting something I find disgusting. If they make certain statements on their websites or their music is linked to a few too many neo-nazi sites I dump it. I've started a list. Saga is at the top of it. Ick.

Yeah. And she's actually one of the less scary ones for me because at least it's easy to figure out her philosophy. Bands like Valkyria bother me more because it's more subtle. There's not a lot of info online about them but they're the one that I found linked on a few too many neo-nazi sites and they release there albums on a nationalist label. Just enough stuff to make me uneasy. Which suck because they have some nice sounding songs.