Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

Collapse
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 4
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous 1 2 3 4 template Next
    #46
    Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

    Originally posted by ChainLightning View Post
    When I started this thread, though, we had been seeing a little bit of 'us and them' as far as "Real Believers" versus "Who knows WTF they believe!" It exists all over the place; real world, internet, forums galore. We've been pretty decent but we've also had scrapes.
    I find it mildly entertaining that the phrasing there should put me in the "Who knows WTF they believe!" category as far as most of the forum goes. Almost worth working into my profile somehow but Jedi and Insane are both more concise and still slightly more entertaining. Still a fun thought.
    life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

    Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

    "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

    John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

    "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

    Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


    Comment

      #47
      Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

      Originally posted by ChainLightning View Post
      "Fluffy Bunny" isn't that specific, though, April. As I said, from the get-go, in this thread, it's applied to "everything I ain't", pretty much. ....
      So my whole point, here, was that a person calling someone fluffy was no different than someone else calling THAT person fluffy. We ALL have oddities, of some sort, in our religious or spiritual paths. And being condescending toward someone else for their oddities is nothing short of hypocrisy, really.

      That said, Caelia is right. There are some asshats that condemn newbies simply for their lack of knowledge.

      GAIADIANNE REPLYING:

      I'd like to get into this discussion, if i may --

      I do agree that there are those who use the pejorative "Fluffy Bunny" as a way of excluding or even ridiculing beginners, which i think is unfair. But I would also like to say that i've seen some very good explanations of the term that do describe a very real problem in Neo-Paganism. Here's one of the better ones, from http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/fluffy.shtml

      Fluffy Bunnies, Insta-witches, McWiccans, One-Book Witches, Wicclets, and Whitelighters: these are those people who, most broadly categorized, give the rest of us a bad name, not by doing bad or objectionable things but instead being unserious, sophomoric, or just plain wrong.

      Wiccans will say that everyone is allowed to follow their own beliefs, and that any form of belief, whether another person agrees with it or not, counts as religion, and I agree. However, it does not necessarily make the practitioner a member of my religion, and I for one would prefer for them to stop embarrassing the rest of us with their antics.

      The primary definition of a Fluffy Bunny is one who refuses to learn, refuses to think, and refuses to consider the possibility that they could possibly ever be wrong.

      In my experience, "Fluffy Bunnies" are generally folks who just refuse to think past their assumptions. For just a few examples:

      a) "Wicca is a religion of light and love" - It's also a religion of Nature, and Nature is often beautiful, but also brutal and impersonal. Ever see a predator go after its prey?

      b) If something is true to me, then it's true for me." You can dance around in a pointy, shiny bra all day singing, "Like a Virgin", but that won't make you Madonna.

      c) "Wicca is whatever you make of it/ want it to be." No, Wicca is a specific religion with specific principles and practices. If you want to create your own religion, do so -- but please also create your own word for it, and stop co-opting the word "Wicca", which already refers to a religion.


      I hope that's helpful - Blessed Be - Gaia
      Last edited by GaiaDianne; 31 May 2012, 11:56.

      Comment

        #48
        Re: 'Fluffy Bunny'

        Hello and Merry Meet, Meava -

        May i recommend an article that i think does a good job of explaining what many Pagans mean by the term, "Fluffy Bunny", and why it's an important issue for many - You can find it here: http://wicca.cnbeyer.com/fluffy.shtml

        I think about the only way to respond to personal challenges is to say something like, "I think it's easy to make quick judgements based on assumptions, but i think it's important to resist that tendency, and to observe how people behave over a period of time, how they grow and learn..... and i hope that anyone who takes the time and effort to observe me will find that i am a "work in progress" with many weaknesses that i'm trying to overcome and strengths that i'm trying to develop."

        I hope that's helpful. Good Luck and Blessings to you - GaiaDianne

        Comment

          #49
          Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

          Originally posted by Caelia View Post
          I totally get what you're saying and have experienced everything you've mentioned in various groups. It seems you get the ones that have a special club or just let you in and you can't access the VIP room for one reason or another. Sadly I think it's a human nature thing to never find that happy medium in groups.

          Also, yeah the "long-jaded skeptic" may apply to me
          I like long-jaded folks. They have a better head on their shoulders, by and large. And a better sense of humor, I might add!

          Comment

            #50
            Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

            BEWARE!!

            I am merging this with the other Fluffy Bunny thread.
            Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
            sigpic

            Comment

              #51
              Originally posted by thalassa View Post
              BEWARE!!

              I am merging this with the other Fluffy Bunny thread.
              Okay, its done.


              So...I'm familiar with the Wicca for the Rest of Us site...and I'm normally a fan of it.

              The Fluffy Bunny bit though, I think it a bit pretentious. As much as we joke here upon occasion, lamenting about the SSDFs (Special Dark Snow Flakes), we also acknowledge that it is a joke build on a stereotype (some people just seem to go out of their way to be as SSDF as possible). and when we have used the FB terminology, we pretty much acknowlege that it is a joke built on a stereotype. But Fluffy Bunny, at least for that author, isn't a joke. And its still built on a stereotype.

              You can't constructively criticize someone's beliefs if you are making fun of them. And you sure as hell haven't gotten to the root of why someone thinks that Maragaret Murray is the shiz, or why they think that the goddess is all fluff and moonbeams when you are mocking them. I recently met a person who seemed pretty darn "fluffy" in a love and light sort of way---she found solace with a deity that loved her in retreat from a religion and a spouse that abused the ever loving shit out of her. She could only afford to smuggle the money for one book out of her grocery money, and she could only manage to hide that one book from her husband...and now that she is in a women's shelter, that one book, and that goddess that loves the shit out of her is her lifeline.

              And in that way, if you were a used of the term and if you didn't know her, you'd probably say "She's such a fluffy bunny"...but that pretty much makes you an ass.

              Originally posted by Caelia View Post

              ADD: I will say Special Dark Snowflake is unique to this forum. It started here I think.
              <----I think TempestBrewer and I stared it...

              If I remember correctly, we had a whole influx of half-vampire/half-demon, Satan worshiping, Hot Topic Goth kids wanting all sorts of Black Majik Spells and such...or something like that.


              ^and that would be the stereotype of the SSDF, for anyone that has never heard of it



              ....part of the problem for me is that having been here for so long, it seems to come in waves--almost like its a fad or something. Fluffy bunny was the fad for a bit...then SSDF was the fad for a bit...I think I've identified the current fad, but it will piss alot of people off, so I'm keeping it to myself. The problem though is identifying the fad as a person and the person as the fad. Its just insulting.
              Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
              sigpic

              Comment

                #52
                Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

                Long as the current fad is neither Jedi or Insanity. I don't feel like switching to Inquisitor of the GOEM yet.
                life itself was a lightsaber in his hands; even in the face of treachery and death and hopes gone cold, he burned like a candle in the darkness. Like a star shining in the black eternity of space.

                Yoda: Dark Rendezvous

                "But those men who know anything at all about the Light also know that there is a fierceness to its power, like the bare sword of the law, or the white burning of the sun." Suddenly his voice sounded to Will very strong, and very Welsh. "At the very heart, that is. Other things, like humanity, and mercy, and charity, that most good men hold more precious than all else, they do not come first for the Light. Oh, sometimes they are there; often, indeed. But in the very long run the concern of you people is with the absolute good, ahead of all else..."

                John Rowlands, The Grey King by Susan Cooper

                "You come from the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve", said Aslan. "And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth; be content."

                Aslan, Prince Caspian by CS Lewis


                Comment

                  #53
                  Re: Fluffy Bunny! Well... yes, I am.

                  I find that alot of people who label others as "fluffy bunnies" are just insecure in themselves, as with anything. Not all, just some that I've ended up debating with online. They think that mixing religions is "fluffy", but then when you bring up the history, that all religions for the most part, mixed to one degree or another, they retreat and say "as long as its done responsibly", or "as long as you don't call it....", which sounds good, but usually isn't aimed at real issues but imagined ones.

                  I, personally, do mix practices from different spiritual paths. I meditate. I don't call myself a buddhist to any degree, but I borrow freely from alot of the philosophical ideas found therein. Same with Taoism, and even shinto, hinduism, etc... I consider myself none of those things I borrow from on the side. I've had someone suggest I was fluffy for even taking ideas from wicca, as they fit into my own path/philosophy.

                  They're the pagan equivelents of the christians that say, "I'm not like those in that sect/church/those guys".
                  I was Hadad2008 when I joined Feb 2008.
                  I became Abdishtar this spring.
                  Then, after the Great Crash, I was reborn as Spartacandream!

                  Comment

                  Previous 1 2 3 4 template Next
                  Working...
                  X