I’ve been watching this with the pagan community, too. Lots and lots of Blessed Bes who gain an entourage and go full right-wing cult leader before you know it, usually at the recommendation of a “mentor” who’s been driven out of other pagan groups because they don’t even try to hide the swastikas.
I wore my Nazi Punks F*ck Off shirt when I went to see the Dead Kennedys play. Granted this was like 2001, but. The lead ~~yeller~~ singer (not Jello) slipped in a puddle of his own blood and cracked me in the kisser with the microphone because I was apparently the only person at that show who knew the lyrics extensively enough to sustain singing (yelling) them with him into the mic. He chipped my left front tooth. I was inordinately proud of that tooth from that day forward.
The infiltrative transformation you're describing here is exactly what happened to radical feminism. *heavy sigh* It went from being the leading edge of the broader feminist dialogue to being a river-rafting dumpster fire of anti-trans right-wing conservative women who wouldn't know radical deconstruction if it reared up and bit them in the ass.
It’s a playbook that goes back to the actual Nazis which was created in working-class Munich beer halls.
I have found the main point of pivot is a deep distrust of government/ the state/ authority/ corporations etc. There is a lot to debunk about the “horseshoe theory” of political alignment but it doesn’t ring true in this aspect.
I’m loving this political side of you!
I’ve been meaning to write about the nature moms being sucked into this.
I’ve been watching this with the pagan community, too. Lots and lots of Blessed Bes who gain an entourage and go full right-wing cult leader before you know it, usually at the recommendation of a “mentor” who’s been driven out of other pagan groups because they don’t even try to hide the swastikas.
I saw this a lot with Norse pagans. It's heartbreaking.
I wore my Nazi Punks F*ck Off shirt when I went to see the Dead Kennedys play. Granted this was like 2001, but. The lead ~~yeller~~ singer (not Jello) slipped in a puddle of his own blood and cracked me in the kisser with the microphone because I was apparently the only person at that show who knew the lyrics extensively enough to sustain singing (yelling) them with him into the mic. He chipped my left front tooth. I was inordinately proud of that tooth from that day forward.
The infiltrative transformation you're describing here is exactly what happened to radical feminism. *heavy sigh* It went from being the leading edge of the broader feminist dialogue to being a river-rafting dumpster fire of anti-trans right-wing conservative women who wouldn't know radical deconstruction if it reared up and bit them in the ass.
It’s a playbook that goes back to the actual Nazis which was created in working-class Munich beer halls.
I have found the main point of pivot is a deep distrust of government/ the state/ authority/ corporations etc. There is a lot to debunk about the “horseshoe theory” of political alignment but it doesn’t ring true in this aspect.