From: ciaran@county.lmt.mn.org (Ciaran Benson)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: Templars not Masons <flame risk HIGH>
Date: 8 Sep 92 19:51:38 GMT
Reply-To: ciaran@county.lmt.mn.org (Ciaran Benson)
Organization: LaserMaster Technologies, Minneapolis, MN

In article <23121@sybase.sybase.com>, leighann@sybase.com (Leigh Ann Hussey) 
writes:
> See?  No flames for you.  Only a request that you look a little more
> closely at history, and instead of seeing a homogenous host of vicious
> warrior Christians, looting and burning like any (you should excuse)
> barbarian Pagans, see the separate orders, each with their own
> character, their own agendas, their own troubles.  They're a lot like us
> in that respect.

  Dear Leigh Ann;

  I didn't mean for my last unfortunately terse post to imply
that I disagree with you.  You're right.  I probably would
benefit from some dedicated time in the history books.

  Thing is, I do see all of the crusaders as one
great big congolmeration of crusaders.  Whether
they were sent out to kill by a pope or an archbishop and
regardless of whether they were killing Lithuanians or Muslims
or Jews or American Indians.  Without pausing to understand
their motivation, or the particular trama of those they ground
underfoot, I stand in solidarity with those whose families
have been cut off from their heritage by crusaders.  Any
crusaders.

  If my overly-wide brush sometimes washes over innocents,
then I'm deeply saddened, because it places me in the equally
resentful role of crusader -- crusading against crusaders and
wiping out any that happen to be standing too close or have
orders which are spelled similarly to those I ignorantly and
vehemently despise.

  You are, without arguement, right.  This kind of hatred and
undirected anger can only be a sickness that I'd do better to
root out and destroy in myself before it destroys me.

  All this talk about the Templars inadvertantly picked open
a really big scab in my soul, though, and in the process I
didn't pause long enough to realize that I was playing the
wrong tapes, too loudly, and at the wrong people.

  But sitting down and actually studying the history of people
who have worked, or who are similar to those who have worked,
to wipe out my family and "my people" is still beyond me.

  I would rather devote the time to exploring my own heretage,
and discovering what little insights I might into the people
who suffered in these crusades, rather than study the crusaders
themselves.

  It may be so that this leaves me ignorant and spiteful, and
those of you who have written suggesting that I broaden my
horizons are right, but when attempting to study the history
of oppressed people it is difficult to keep a pleasant thought
for the with the oppressors, and I sometimes end up myoptically
attacking people and groups who only bear surface similarities
to the true aggressors.

  And as I said, I become an aggressor myself.

  "... this economic redistribution is a lot tricker than I
thought ..."  Dennis Moore (aka Monty Python).

  Ciaran, feeling awefully small and wishing that I hadn't thrown
in my thirty-seven dollar's worth, but glad I did because I
got it off my chest, but worried now that I've exposed myself
for the bitter little snipe that I am in my heart of hearts
and really, really hoping that Murray sends me a letter soon
because I've lost his address.

  $uslinit; include oblig.sig <<
  "...And here, Queen Aphrodite, pour heavenly nectar into gold
   cups, and fill them gracefully with sudden joy."  -- Sappho >>
Newsgroups: alt.pagan