So I stumbled upon a website in my search for a list of Norse runes to forward to a friend and I stumbled upon a particular website that is particularly egregious. Here’s what I discovered, for the sake of providing some education on spotting dogwhistles when it comes to looking at Norse Pagan resources, and websites of general Norse enthusiasts.
This one is particularly bad, so fair warning that there is very explicit white supremacist language and iconography in these screenshots. This is for education only and I do not condone the messages presented in these screenshots.
Can anyone potentially point out what’s wrong in the above images? Allow me to annotate:
This is the type of shit you gotta look out for when you’re looking for information and resources on anything to do with Norse paganism, Norse stuff in general even. Always look out for language that talks about an innate ancestral claim, that you must have a certain ancestry to work with the gods of this pantheon. The claim that the religion is indigenous is also something to look out for (especially when they’re trying to say that they’re “protecting” their culture, which is a whole can of worms in and of itself I’ll gladly elaborate on for the curious) as well as the notion that ancient Norse people were “colonized” by Christians. The word “folk,” especially in terms of the phrase “gather the folk,” is also to be watched out for.
A very explicit example is in this set of screenshots too, trying to give nuance to the fucking 14 Words.
Odinism itself was coined by a nazi, and it is to this day a nazi movement. People who are not far right but use the term are either miseducated, or are blissfully aware they’re willingly sitting with Nazis. It is not a term you should use freely or at all. If you’re so inclined, “Asatru” is a word you should use because it wasn’t coined by a nazi, though be aware that Asatru itself can be interpreted negatively because of associations with far right groups such as the AFA (Asatru Folk Assembly), but is not in and of itself inherently bad like the term Odinist is.
Always be hyper vigilant as to the websites and the sources you’re looking at. Keep an eye out for things like this while you’re researching.
