MySpace Pages: Runes OK or Offensive?
Wednesday November 7, 2007
If this is true, it's possibly one of the stupidest things I've seen in ages.
Rumor abounds among the Heathen/Asatru communities that social networking site MySpace may have banned the display of the elder Futhark, citing the use of runes as offensive. According to Jason Pitzl-Waters' Wild Hunt blog, it looks like the poo-storm began when a petition site asked MySpace to allow Pagan users something besides "Wiccan" or "Other" under the "religion" option in their profiles.
Supposedly, the petition site's profile image was removed by MySpace administrators, claiming that runic symbols were "offensive" in nature. There have been other claims by Heathen/Asatru MySpacers that their profiles also had runic symbols deleted. It remains to be seen whether the rationale behind this all is because some racist groups have co-opted the Asatru symbols, and so now anyone with a runic symbol is being branded as a white supremacist, or whether it's a blanket condemnation of the entire Heathen/Asatru community.
If this is actually true, I find it very ironic. I mean come on -- it's MySpace. It's a site whose original popularity was spawned from amateur porn and bad emo bands -- and these guys can flag an ancient set of writing symbols as offensive? One wonders exactly just how much Tom and his MySpace staff actually know about Asatru, but I suspect it would fill one very tiny bit of bandwidth in cyberspace.
Rumor abounds among the Heathen/Asatru communities that social networking site MySpace may have banned the display of the elder Futhark, citing the use of runes as offensive. According to Jason Pitzl-Waters' Wild Hunt blog, it looks like the poo-storm began when a petition site asked MySpace to allow Pagan users something besides "Wiccan" or "Other" under the "religion" option in their profiles.
Supposedly, the petition site's profile image was removed by MySpace administrators, claiming that runic symbols were "offensive" in nature. There have been other claims by Heathen/Asatru MySpacers that their profiles also had runic symbols deleted. It remains to be seen whether the rationale behind this all is because some racist groups have co-opted the Asatru symbols, and so now anyone with a runic symbol is being branded as a white supremacist, or whether it's a blanket condemnation of the entire Heathen/Asatru community.
If this is actually true, I find it very ironic. I mean come on -- it's MySpace. It's a site whose original popularity was spawned from amateur porn and bad emo bands -- and these guys can flag an ancient set of writing symbols as offensive? One wonders exactly just how much Tom and his MySpace staff actually know about Asatru, but I suspect it would fill one very tiny bit of bandwidth in cyberspace.
Comments
That is why all pagans should switch to www.CovenSpace.com, instead of MySpace.com…my opinion is that Pagans should have their own site, rather than just the traditional norm for the unenlightened…
I do like Covenspace, and I think it serves a purpose — however, I don’t use MySpace as a place to meet other Pagans. I use it as a place where I can meet people of all different spiritual paths, beliefs, and backgrounds. So, for that, it does have its good points. Likewise, I wouldn’t say that non-Pagans are unenlightened, I’d just say that they’re on a different path than me.
I figure if I want to hang out with other Pagans, there are plenty of places online to do it — but that’s not why I use MySpace. I can see having a MySpace presence along WITH a CovenSpace presence.
I use myspace to connect with friends who live a fair distance from me. Now I am not Asatru, but I do have many friend who are, none of which are white supremacists. My husband is studying runes, and I find it almost laughable that they view runes as something offensive. What’s next? The witches alphabet?
I don’t know about MySpace, but some anti-hate groups have targeted Asatru and Norse/runic symbols.
The Southern Poverty Law Center no longer gets contributions from me because they have branded all Asatru as skinheads. After an outcry several years back, they then said “Well, about 25% of all Asatru are skinheads.” When challenged to produce the numbers to back that up, of course they couldn’t. Pagans don’t really know how many pagans there are of any stripe, so how can an outside group have such detailed knowledge? With ignorance like this among what was once an important and valid organization of tolerance, how can we expect the Giant Black Hole of Collective Dumbness known as Myspace to be any better?
Oh, my, I wonder if Bilbo, Frodo, Aragorn and Gandalf know of this?
One branch of my family were Vikings and took the surname of Sea Wolf, which was later shortened to ‘Self’ when they finally settled on coast of England. So I do have a special affinity for runework but by no stretch of anyone’s imagination could I be labeled a skinhead! I have heard of some of the totally awful stuff that’s on ‘myspace’ too, so don’t quite see where they are taking any moral highground in this matter either.
Stupidity is the worst contagious disease out there, spreading from one closed mind to the next!
Runes (RUNR) are an ISO 15924 recognises UNICODE range (16A0–16FF), which was set aside specifically for the display of Runes in web-browsers and text editors. Myspace needs to get with the program.
My son, under the guise of studying runes, claiming he was interested in Heathen/Asatru got runic tattoos. At the time, I thought he was just a teenager, interested in a different pagan path, so I shared my books, even bought him a couple about the Astatru.
My son is now a skinhead. He brags about this on Myspace.
Because I do not allow violence in my home, nor a violent attitude towards people, children, or those of color, we no longer speak.
It’s unfortunate that the skinheads have co-opted some of the symbols of the Asatru. Sadly, it means that many times an entire community gets branded as “racist”, when in fact it’s only a small portion of the population.
Lisa, I’m so sorry your family is going through this.
patti
This is not the first time something similar to this is has happened. The swastika is an ancient symbol that has been used for over 3,000 years.Until the Nazis used this symbol, the swastika was used by many cultures throughout the past 3,000 years to represent life, sun, power, strength, and good luck. When Hitler decided to use it as his symbol for his political movement, it took on a different meaning. Then there is the rainbow colors. They use to just stand for a rainbow, until the homosexual movement decide to use it’s colors to symbolize unity, but to some christians, where the rainbow once symbolized God’s promise, it was now offensive. Now it is happening with the Asatru runes being associated with the skinheads. Man kind likes to take premade symbols that to them expresses their belifs, their strugles, their vissions. Unfornately, for us that don’t agree with their beliefs or vissions, find that the symbol takes on an offensive tone and the true meaning of the symbol gets lost in the history books.
There is so much ignorance out there when it comes to runes. I have a bindrune tattoo on my arm and I used to get some confused and angry stares whenever I was at the gym. What was even more confusing for them was when I was working out with my wife, who is black.
If it is true, it is indeed unfortunate.
I am a heathen and ,as the ever pragmatic one, I will see if this is true before I start to raise a “poo storm” of my own.
Unfortunately, what our mothers told us IS true. One bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. The best way to combat these types of circumstances is through
Heathens Against Hate
heathensagainsthate.org
Asatru is a religion which espouses the virtues of family and folk (could be interpreted as race on some levels). Celebrating white or Germanic heritage may be offensive to some people. Yet if a person can celebrate native american or black heritage that seems like a pretty bad double standard. There’s nothing inherently threatening about the teachings.