Tribal Warriors, or Imperial Soldiers?
Op Ed
You decide : are you for tribal warriors or imperial soldiers? I'm not saying we don't have good soldiers, loyal and dutiful. That is not my point. Of course they are! Our imperial army is one of the finest. My point is, as a Germanic, what do I have to do with an imperial army?
We've had many loyal soldiers. Show me the true tribal warrior these days. Has there been one since the Revolutionary War? Someone who will really fight for freedom? Someone willing to water the tree of liberty with their own blood in the pursuit of the blood of tyrants?
I'm a wizard, not a warrior, but I would like to be shown some true tribal warriors. I've seen a few. Earth First!ers willing to put themselves on the line for the trees, Black Block Anarchists unflinching and without fear taking on stupid imperial riot cops, but such inspiring examples are few and far between. I'd like to see more warriors actually willing to challenge that which encroaches upon liberty. Some of those within the now largely-defunct militia movement who were not racists may fit this category as well. Some of them called themselves "patriots", and patriots they very well may have been.
If anyone in America really understood and honored tribal warriors, they'd have a hell of a lot more sympathy for and solidarity with the Afghans, for example. Or almost all Arabs, who are just about as Germanic as you can get, if you strip away the Islam. Heathenism must be in tension with Islam by necessity, for Islam is anti-heathen, but Arabian culture, especially that of the Bedouins, is very similar in many ways to the ways of our ancestors : the raids, the poetry, the custom-law, the tribal chiefs. Throw in a few goddesses into the mix and you'd have something very close.
No, I'm not advising some uncritical support for the "other side". But the "other side" suggests the limes, and when speaking of the Roman limes along the Rhine, I will ask : Which side of the limes are you on? Are you on the side of Imperialized Germany, or Free Germany? Do you support the brave soldiers who go to squash the rebellion of those barbarian tribal warriors? Or do those warriors remind you somewhat of your ancestors, and allow you to take a much more nuanced and complex position?
I don't care whether this bluntness alienates anyone -- as anyone knows who has read this blog, I don't stop to care about that when there is a truth nagging at me to be told, nad I just trust people's ability to disagree if they have a problem. I'm not presenting so much here a position as I am a series of important and critical questions, which I understand people are going to take different positions around. But a good provocation, well-meant and intelligently presented, is often necessary to get people thinking in new ways.
You decide : are you for tribal warriors or imperial soldiers? I'm not saying we don't have good soldiers, loyal and dutiful. That is not my point. Of course they are! Our imperial army is one of the finest. My point is, as a Germanic, what do I have to do with an imperial army?
We've had many loyal soldiers. Show me the true tribal warrior these days. Has there been one since the Revolutionary War? Someone who will really fight for freedom? Someone willing to water the tree of liberty with their own blood in the pursuit of the blood of tyrants?
I'm a wizard, not a warrior, but I would like to be shown some true tribal warriors. I've seen a few. Earth First!ers willing to put themselves on the line for the trees, Black Block Anarchists unflinching and without fear taking on stupid imperial riot cops, but such inspiring examples are few and far between. I'd like to see more warriors actually willing to challenge that which encroaches upon liberty. Some of those within the now largely-defunct militia movement who were not racists may fit this category as well. Some of them called themselves "patriots", and patriots they very well may have been.
If anyone in America really understood and honored tribal warriors, they'd have a hell of a lot more sympathy for and solidarity with the Afghans, for example. Or almost all Arabs, who are just about as Germanic as you can get, if you strip away the Islam. Heathenism must be in tension with Islam by necessity, for Islam is anti-heathen, but Arabian culture, especially that of the Bedouins, is very similar in many ways to the ways of our ancestors : the raids, the poetry, the custom-law, the tribal chiefs. Throw in a few goddesses into the mix and you'd have something very close.
No, I'm not advising some uncritical support for the "other side". But the "other side" suggests the limes, and when speaking of the Roman limes along the Rhine, I will ask : Which side of the limes are you on? Are you on the side of Imperialized Germany, or Free Germany? Do you support the brave soldiers who go to squash the rebellion of those barbarian tribal warriors? Or do those warriors remind you somewhat of your ancestors, and allow you to take a much more nuanced and complex position?
I don't care whether this bluntness alienates anyone -- as anyone knows who has read this blog, I don't stop to care about that when there is a truth nagging at me to be told, nad I just trust people's ability to disagree if they have a problem. I'm not presenting so much here a position as I am a series of important and critical questions, which I understand people are going to take different positions around. But a good provocation, well-meant and intelligently presented, is often necessary to get people thinking in new ways.
posted by SiegfriedGoodfellow at 6:44 PM
2 Comments:
Yes, I'd like to admire the Afghans for being tough and not just letting foreigners take over. But I can't. They're slaves to their god and they like it, and they believe they have a guarantee on their status in their religion's next life. In other words, their apparent courage has no value. And, given a chance, they'll kill you if you don't accept their god and their religion.
Human dealings are about more than what and who and how: they're about why, where there was some kind of choice in the matter. Islam is submission, and there is no more choice.
I don't care how "Germanic" they might be. I don't feel compelled to follow old models, only to learn from them. There were some things our forebears did that were good and always will be; others, not so much, or not anymore.
If there are Muslims out there who can look me in the eye and say "Yes, the book says that, but Mohammed lived 1400 years ago, and things are different now," we might have something to talk about, like the future. But many Muslims will say that such a Muslim is not a Muslim, and must pay for such thoughts with his life. These people are the enemy of everything human, and certainly of the gods I know.
BTW Siegfried, you write very well.
First of all, thank you for your kind words, and thank you for stopping by. Secondly, you make several good points. Again, I don't encourage knee-jerk approval of the "other side", only that we do take a look at how things look from the other side. Some of this is Islamic fundamentalism, and that fundamentalism must be opposed, intelligently and firmly (as all fundamentalism must), but some of it is tribal. That too must be seasoned, but is certainly something understandable from a human standpoint. The situation is very complex, neither black nor white. But I would sincerely like it if we would use our ancestral faith to help build bridges that allow us to at least look at things with different eyes. And maybe look to things that as human beings could bring us together as human beings. If we are to be opponents, let it at least be as men.
Post a Comment
<< Home