There's this car in the parking lot that we sometimes end up parking next to. The owner of this car has decorated it with about a dozen bumperstickers, many of which brag about said owner's Pagan ways. Well, whoop-de-fucking-shit. I actually find this person even more annoying than those people with all the Christian bumperstickers. See, there's some sort of notion today, especially amongst those in the 18-49 demographic, that Wiccanism and Paganism is really really cool because it's so different and more liberal than the Christianity that was probably forced upon them as a child. That supposed coolness is rarely talked about, but it is definitely implied. Therefore, I'm sure the person with these bumperstickers realizes this. I suspect their conscious reasoning goes something like this: "I'm very proud of my religion and I see no reason to feel ashamed about practicing a religion that flies in the face of a contemporary culture deeply rooted in Christian ideals, because, dammit, that's what religious freedom is all about." However, all their subconsious is saying is, "Golly, this will piss off a lot of Christians, including ma and paw, and everyone else out there will just think I'm really, really cool and rebelious."

Personally, I think Wiccanism and Paganism (I used to know the difference, but have since forgot it and don't really care to relearn it) is just as kooky, if not kookier, than Christianity or anything else out there.

Oh, and this reminds me. I was loosely researching a book idea about and small town undergoing paranoia about Satanism, so I decided to study just what Satanism was all about. Well, too put it simply, here's another subculture that think's it's much cooler than it really is. All I could get out of them was that they didn't REALLY believe in Satan per se, but instead worshipped some Pagan god of revelry or knowlege or something-or-other that the Christian Bible borrowed, reformed, and reshaped into it's perception of Satan. They just used the word Satan because that's what the world at large recognized. So they don't worship the Christian version of Satan, they're all about the pre-Christian dude who wasn't very evil at all, except from a Puritanical standpoint. All well, and good, I just don't accept their explaination about using the name Satan. Come on, admit, it, you use Satan because it tends to piss people off. Therefore, they come off looking narrow-minded and ignorant, whereas you come off looking open-minded and free thinking. And, of course, really cool.

Not buyin' that one either.

Wooderson

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