Concerning article regarding disability rights in USA

TheCatWoman said:

what was it's original meaning, before being corrupted?

Well, the uncorrupted rune is still in my runeset. It isn't in the runes used by the Vikings. It's only in the pre-Viking Scandinavian runes (where we don't have a meaning for any rune) or in the Anglo-Frisian runes used in early medieval England and the Netherlands. This is the Old English meaning:
"An estate is very dear to every man,
if he can enjoy there in his house
whatever is right and proper in constant prosperity"

Its Old English name is eðel (pronounced ethel with the buzzy 'th' as in the word 'the') and it's generally taken to represent home and heritage.

Ughh horrible, what was it's original meaning, before being corrupted?

I saw the wiki article said it's though to derive from the Greek Omega? Aren't we in the norht allowed to develop anything that dosen't relate to the classical world in some way? I think this is another area that needs to be challenged classicists have a lot to answer for, although not as much as the N people.

TheCatWoman said:

I haven't heard about this rune though

I was wrong about it not being used by the N***s. Check out this Wiki article about it.

TheCatWoman said:

the swastika is a very ancient symbol

Yep. It represented life and health on Anglo Saxon funerary urns. It's still used in India for good luck.

TheCatWoman said:

this perosn had been held up by the Nazi's as the first "Aryan", was female and dark skinned and haired.

Wonderful! 

I agree, Alexa, most Pagans I know and have known would absolutely reject this right wing nonsense. I have come across a few that are misogynistic, the only way a woman should be a pagan is to be perpetually bare foot and pregnant, or homophobic. I've heard of a few Odinist groups who are very right wing. 

I haven't heard about this rune though, its not surprising though, the swastika is a very ancient symbol that was taken over to serve an agenda that was the antithisis of its real meaning.

One of the things that made me laugh and pleased was watching the program about the Shaman Marianne mentioned in the what are you watcing thread, was that this perosn had been held up by the Nazi's as the first "Aryan", was female and dark skinned and haired. It seems that all mesolitic people where dark skinned.

TheCatWoman said:

If they really wanted to protect white European beliefs they'd be espousing Paganisn, although most of us Pagans wouldn't want them and thier ilk.

Absolutely not! Like many Heathens, I've been fighting against the white supremicist element within Heathenry for 20 years. Fortunately, it's very much in the minority in the UK - or was. I wouldn't be surprised if it's on the rise in corners now, with the rise of racism since Brexit. Fortunately, the major Heathen group in Britain is staunchly inclusive. It's unfortunate that Nazism used so many symbols from 19th century German racist groups that were stolen from an imaginary pagan past. The white supermacists in the US have recently reworked one rune to turn it into a racist symbol.

It always amazes me that a country that has no state religion like we do with the CofE and actually wrote relgious freedom into its constitution has become ne of the most oppressively Christian states in the world. 

I wonder long it will be before all the different Christian groups turn on each other for being the "wrong" sort of Christian?

We have some far right people in this country who are banging the Christian drum, but I wonder outside of the usual hatchings, matchings and dispatchings if any of them have ever been in a church?

They say we're a traditionally Christian country, blah blah and we don't want religions and worshipers from "non white" countries here, but where do they think Jesus came from? I'm sure many of them believe that in a country of dark haired, dark eyed, brown people, Jesus was miraculously white, blond and blue eyed! If they really wanted to protect white European beliefs they'd be espousing Paganisn, although most of us Pagans wouldn't want them and thier ilk.

Yeah, I often take for granted the fact that I am white, straight enough, cisgender male, Christian-passing, have invisible disabilities, and not financially poor. I can’t imagine how terrified I’d be if I were an immigrant, or even a naturalized citizen with recent ancestry outside the States.

We had I.C.E. suddenly have a huge presence in our area last month. It was bad enough they cancelled a huge Latina festival in one of our nearby cities. Imagine that: Even naturalized Hispanic-American civilians are too afraid to celebrate their culture and history out in the open.

Man, it's not looking great over there, for sure. Especially considering how everyone under the current administration who isn't white, straight, male and rich are just treated like they're nothing but problems for the lives and wellbeings of everyone else.

YUP!

But I bet some people believe it?

Nah, it’s just a meme. “Republican Jesus” is a popular meme format that parodies how ridiculous it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ AND a Republican with ideals that counter everything he stood for.

Is ths real?

I don't understand you're country, I really don't. I'm sorry this is happening, but I've no clues as to what you might do about it, other than vote for anyone who's not Trump or one of his supporters. 

I see your countrymen going on about the wonders of your constittion, the freedoms it promises etc, but nowhere do I see it excluding so many. It's very sad.

The fact that it's people calling themselves Christians coming out with all this BS, I wonder what Jesus would say? I expect they'd try and argue with him and say he misinterpreted himself, before crusifying him all over again.

I do sometimes worry that things such as "reasonable adjustments" could be prone to watering down in the future. 

It does not help that the Conservative Party and now the Labour Party has done nothing to help the disabled and their carers. They want people in work, but gutted SEND support for personalised help in higher education, they have forced the bedroom tax on disabled households and keep the carer's allowance ridiculously low and the work rules so tight meaning couples can't try to supplement their low income with part time work or risk falling foul of the £200 limit. 

I’ve had at least 3 local businesses (two warehouses and a library) ask if my company still has a workshop. Unfortunately, we did have one until just recently and we still call the main room where we conduct day services “the workshop.” I don’t fault the companies, though. Some positive aspects of a workshop are that it can potentially be safer and/or more convenient for certain individuals and give them something constructive to do. However, I like to encourage these companies to still consider hiring my clients to work in their job site, since that is a much better situation for both the person with a disability AND the company itself.

I still have yet to convince one of those particular companies of that though, lol

Alexa said:

the white, straight, Christian-supremacist, wealthy males.

Oh! Funny story that reminds me of:

Recently news broke that Republicans were raging online against one of their own (Sarah Huckabee Sanders) because she released an advert where she decried wasteful spending on welfare. The catch was that the ad portrayed a young white male adult choosing to take welfare so that he can play video games all day as a way to portray misuse of those funds. These Republican voters decried it because it depicted a white male, which they said is a misrepresentation of that entire demographic.

Can you IMAGINE if she portrayed it as a non-white person instead of a white guy, like these conservative voters would prefer?! Like, how horrific and racist would that be?

There’s a reason why I’m totally fine with bashing white, Christian, American men in my personal writings; They’re not just easy targets, they literally have no issues to deal with beyond maybe getting a paper cut in their day-to-day lives.

I have feared for my trans and non-Christian friends in the US and, regretfully, I'm not surprised by this. Of course, I'm horrified as there seems no end to what this administration will do to harm others. All they want is rights for those who already have all the privilege - the white, straight, Christian-supremacist, wealthy males.

Every time I see Trump's name at the top of a news article I fear reading it.

profdanger said:

I’d hate to see us return to having this population working primarily in closed-off workshops instead of being encouraged to utilize their skills with the community at large.

Me too.

It's a scary world these days.