I feel for you

Cultural appropriation is the act and practice of co-opting cultural and religious practices but where it gets disrespected at the same time, comes to think of it I can better understand why Jews are upset whenever Evangelicals distort their practices because I feel the same way around the way secular fandoms and atheism co-opt Christian artefacts and beliefs whilst mocking or deriding their followers. There are even atheist devotionals, while I am sometimes sympathetic to atheists for all their criticisms of it some have the guts to create their own ‘devotionals‘. With some secular fandoms, they have the audacity to call their favourite musician ‘Holy Spearit’ and ‘Godney’ whilst some are outright against Christianity.

(Watch out if she ever becomes a pastor and decries idolatry.) Surely they say they like Christianity or say that Christianity is mainstream, but only the cool aspects of it and pretty much butcher it at the same time whilst mocking followers. There is no real respect for the faith, especially when it comes to practising Christians being mocked and persecuted. With Christianity declining in the West and with secular fandoms co-opting and mutilating those beliefs and practices, it really is a form of cultural appropriation. I’m calling it by what it really is, whether if you like it or not. It is cultural appropriation, in this case secular fandoms co-opting Christian practices whilst spiting actual Christians.

Even the Bible has called out these characters, calling them wolves in sheep’s clothing. If you have people appropriating aspects of a persecuted community and disrespecting them at the same time, it’s cultural appropriation all the way. You might say Christianity is mainstream anyways, so it wouldn’t count as cultural appropriation. But with Christianity declining significantly in the 21st century, there’s the risk of crossing the line. With church attendance declining and less people reading the Bible, there’s the risk of cultural appropriation should these happen at all.

Where faith is gone, fandom rises and vice versa

While this isn’t always and exactly the case for everybody, I feel fandom happens when God’s ripped out of his place in people. If it sounds strange, that’s because fandom and especially geeky fandom has a habit of appropriating religious and clerical terminology and the like. Hence things like Holy Spearit, canon (both Biblical canon and somebody who’s a member of certain bodies subjected to church rule) and word of God seem to be directly ripped from the Christian playbook.

Not to mention some geeks have a habit of calling religion fandom and the Old Testament fanfiction, which shows how much they’ve displaced God and replaced him with idols. Pardon if it sounds harsh, but it does comes off this way. While an idol could be anything and everything, in here it’s fandom and while it’s not necessarily wrong to be a fan of something for as long as God comes first geek fandom has perfected idolatry and made it into an art form.

When I mean by that, you have not only cosplay but also multiple documents of fanfiction and fanart online and how there’s so many fans who’d even call their fansites shrines. See how much sacred terminology’s being co-opted by secular fans. Before God came into my life, I was into fannish stuff (to an extent) and again when I backslided. Now God’s in my life, fandom plays a smaller role in my role. Seems like fandom fills in a void, to the point of mimicking religion and faith.

You may not agree with this, but I will stand by what I say.

On idolatry

In my own opinion, idolatry’s not always about literally worshipping graven images and praying through saints (I’m not Catholic but I don’t think all Catholics practise idolatry as some do have a genuine relationship with God and so do some Jews, Muslims, Protestants and Orthodox), it could also be overdoing an enthusiasm you have in lieu of God.

I don’t think it’s idolatry if you look up on the position of dogs in churches and monasteries, or for another cats that even God knows what you’re into so I’m not going to berate you for loving cats and dogs like I do. It’s not wrong to love the Three Stooges, for as long as you still have time for God then the Three Stooges are fine and some things to avoid wisely enough.

So my take on idolatry’s not always about graven images, but rather overdoing rather innocuous things in lieu of a relationship with God that it’s wiser to do it in moderation as to not interfere with the relationship.

Don’t overdo it

When it comes to idolatry, bear in mind it’s not necessarily wrong to like something for as long as it doesn’t displace or replace God then that’s fine if it’s something that you do after you worship God then that’s fine and I think when it comes to idols made out of metal or golden calves, they’re still fallible in some regards.

Like say they do things you get bothered by, admittedly I’ve been through this period before and I’m telling you they’re a fallible lot. As for God, it could be argued he did get tested and almost felt like losing control or going berserk but as a role model he holds up better than most idols, that’s if you put them on a pedestal but their flaws are still present.

Or at least, don’t make them into a big priority so like Three Stooges all you want and don’t make them into idols and like yourself, but not idolise yourself too much so do it within moderation with regards to faith in God.

Animal people and animal idolatry

To be kind, liking animals doesn’t necessarily constitute idolatry and in some cases it could be God’s blessing to get another cat/dog/whatever species that is. There are actually cases where cats and dogs do hang out at Christian monasteries, having a practical purpose like hunting vermin and guarding so there’s going to be value in those.

And then there are animal haters like Paul who complain about people idolising pets, even if that sounds mean and unfair to pet people (let’s face it, if Paul openly hates dogs to somebody like Wesley, it’s not going to go well and same would happen if it were about cats). The idolatry thing is reasonable in some cases, especially if Paul knows people worship the creation rather than the creator.

But still, to be considerate to animal people if animals do have a place in God’s world then they do especially if it serves well in things like hunting, guarding and stuff. Or in some cases, those animals act as therapists and that’s also reasonable. But then again animal haters like Paul are still God’s creation, whose purpose is to critique pet people a lot even if it hurts.

The Golden Calf Makes a Mistake

Something like fans holding up their idols as near perfect but disappointed whenever they screw up like losing her temper a lot in public, not a good parent and possibly an animal hoarder who’s rude to people that they don’t know that their golden calf still makes mistakes like these, still human and fallible as they get.

Not that it’s bad, some do make it up for it but others don’t learn from it. But I think when it comes to idealisation, it clashes with their real personality (the actress is sweet in public, hot-tempered in private and not the best parent and spouse) that should the flaws come out like being vicious to her spouse it’s going to hurt fans as they don’t expect her to be like this.

Nobody wants their idols to make mistakes but when they do it’s heartbreaking that I think it’s relatable to many people but even if they are fallible, they’re not necessarily any less human but that involves accepting them for who they are, hard as it is.

Even idols make mistakes

That’s to give you the idea, let’s say you like Caitlin Snow from the Flash but you’re surprised to know that Caitlin is a werewolf out to drink blood, making her dogs torment animals and for witchcraft until Barry Allen holds her accountable for it by making her hunt rats only. Like you think she’s near-perfect but she makes mistakes by conning people in the form of a dog, but Barry holds her responsible for killing animals and duping him a lot.

In this regard, if Caitlin Snow is a real person she’s not perfect either whether if she gets caught by the police for making her pets hunt endangered animals or letting wolves roam in public places without knowing she angers people this way. For another matter, Tim Drake screws up by cheating on his girlfriend and then she punches him for what he did that if it happened in the real world, it would be the same as Tim makes a mistake.

Being imperfect isn’t bad, that’s if you’re either forgiven or try to owe up to it the next time. But I don’t think fans will be comfortable with Caitlin Snow making her pets torture animals and then made to owe up to it by hunting rats only, even if she faces the consequences of it and has to make it up. In the sense of being fallible, held responsible for it or at least screwing up a lot.

The disappointing idol

That’s to give you the idea of the problem with idolatry based on idealisation, that you like the stone idol and the golden calf so much but they disappoint you in ways you don’t expect, like the golden calf having a short fuse, nasty to followers and bad at handling its own child and the stone idol being rude to fans and has multiple meltdowns filmed on social media.

It could be about somebody’s favourite actress or any other celebrity, the problem would be the same. But I also think even if that favourite actress has a hot temper and mean at times, she’s not any less of a person really though that would involve being mature about this, knowing you can’t devalue people even if they screw up a lot.

But that’s also some of the problems with idealisation, once the illusion of perfection is ruined (a frequent hot temper ruins a sweet facade) that makes it harder to reconcile with the idealised image that in hindsight, even idols still disappoint you with their own shortcomings.

Almost nobody’s perfect

If almost nobody’s perfect in this vice-drenched planet, then the same can be said of golden calves where they may be idolised by a lot of fans but they also do things like abusing their children and spouses, doing drugs and acting mean and rude to their adoring fans that even golden calves have their shortcomings.

An idol made out of stone might have a sweet attitude but generally fiery temper that not even the fans notice and care about, even though the idol is still a fallible character worn out by wind and water just as they’re so worn out by their emotions they lose their cool frequently. That’s not to say truly good people exist, even Jesus likely had his moments of tempted to do worse and trying not to.

But for everybody who tries to do good, there are people and even idols who always screw up and never learn from their mistakes.

Even the golden calf makes mistakes

If that’s true, even people’s idols are only human in the sense of being fallible like beating up a child and spouse on social media whenever they’re mad, preferring to hoard things rather than to share with others, masturbating in public when drunk and always giving the middle finger to their worshippers.

In the sense that even a fan will be disappointed if their idol does things, they don’t except them to do like being so angry at their own relatives as to beat them up, caring for animals instead of children, refusing to cheer up their fans and even giving them a black eye whenever their privacy’s disturbed.

Even the golden calf makes mistakes by throwing their baby whenever it cries, drinking a lot of alcohol and smoking weed everyday on social media.