Latest / Random Heathen Ramblings / Random Heathen Ramblings: S6, EP20 - Heathenry In The Age Of Memes

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Random Heathen Ramblings: S6, EP20 - Heathenry In The Age Of Memes · Random Heathen Ramblings

0:00
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Random Heathen Ramblings
0:03
podcast where we discuss all sorts of things Germanic
0:06
Heathenry related. My name is Jesse and I'm your
0:09
host. Let's get into it.
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Visit our online store at the Olivet here.com and discover the
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beauty of Mountain Spirit. Hello, everybody, Welcome back.
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Welcome back to hopefully some more new listeners, maybe some
1:14
more new viewers, some new audience members to the show.
1:19
Had a really odd thing happened, like in a good way, I guess
1:25
maybe, but on the Facebook page, on the on the Midgard Musings
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Facebook page. So I know a lot of you folks
1:30
that listen to the show and watch here on Patreon are, you
1:39
know, found the content through social media, Facebook or or
1:46
YouTube or maybe Instagram. But the Facebook page has really
1:50
taken off this week. Over this last week, we've
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gained like 7000 new followers for the first time ever in the
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last six or seven years that the page has been published, the
2:07
page collectively reached a million views over 1,000,000
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views. You know, not on one particular
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piece of content per SE, but on content in general on the page
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over the last month, you know, the page has has reached a
2:23
million different people or 1,000,000 views, I guess.
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And, and which is wild to me. It's wild to me that I'm here
2:32
talking about that on a podcast. And I'm, you know, been doing
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this for, like I said, you know, this is the 6th season of the
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podcast. The, the, the Midgard musings
2:45
name came into, came into the picture a little before that.
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So, you know, 6-7 years of, of continuous content, you know,
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that's no small task now and today and how do you get there?
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You know, so that's what we're going to talk about today on the
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podcast or what I wanted to talk about today, because I've, I've,
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because of this increased visibility to the Facebook page,
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I'm seeing a lot more of what you see on bigger numbers, you
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know, like the platforms that have sites on them or, or pages
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and, and groups and things that have higher numbers.
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There's a lot of different interaction and some of which
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gets, you know, if you let it, it can get to you, especially as
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a content creator if you start taking stock into to everything
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that you see on the Internet, it can really change you if you if
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you let it. So I wanted to talk about that
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today based off of one thing that I saw or, or had an
3:52
interaction with. So we're going to go into that.
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We're going to kind of discuss, you know, the, the Internet and
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the gods in a way, you know, and how Heathenry and the age of
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memes, how we, how we kind of navigate through all that.
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And I don't know, I guess before we get into it though, the
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housekeeping things #1 there's going to be a link to a
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crowdfunding thing that that I'm helping my wife do.
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So some of you may have seen me post this earlier in the week,
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whether it be through the link itself, you know, on the website
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or, or through other short form video content, what have you.
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My mother in law's who is 84 years old, she's going through
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time right now. She's in the late stages of her
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life course and she's just going through things that are
5:00
presenting a lot of challenges with her getting around and you
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know, her, her stability, her, her safety and all these types
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of things that come with old age, you know, But the family is
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trying hard to provide her with some necessities that will make
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her day-to-day life safer, easier.
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So there's a GoFundMe campaign up right now.
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So if you're listening to this on the airway or on the podcast
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streaming sites where it's just, you know, audio, you'll, you'll,
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you'll need to click on the show notes and go to that GoFundMe
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link if you want to help in any sort of way towards the family.
5:45
There's a lot of things that I wouldn't say a lot of things,
5:48
but the, the things that are needed are, are, are high dollar
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items. So we're, we're looking at
5:54
getting a, a wheelchair, you know, ADA approved ramp because
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where their house is, it is, you know, a, a modular trailer, you
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know, so it's a, it's, it's raised up off the ground.
6:08
There's stairs to gain and, and, and my mother's in law, mobility
6:12
just doesn't allow her to, to climb stairs anymore, even with
6:16
assisted, you know, things like a Walker.
6:20
She just it, it's, it's too much of A of a risk, too much of A
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hazard. So we want to get a ramp
6:26
installed to where we can get her in and out with a wheelchair
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safely and easily. Also medical equipment like a
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Hoyer lift, a sit to stand chair, things that you're just
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going to make her life and her quality of life at this stage of
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life that much better. So the GoFundMe link is posted
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in the show notes for those of you watching here on Patreon,
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it's posted down in the comments section below or the description
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area below. I should say, I know some of you
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that listen or watch this show have already donated and your
7:03
and your generosity. I can't thank you enough, you
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know, for, for, for, for, for somebody to see stuff like this,
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you know, and in today's day and age with everything else that's
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going on and to find it in their heart to donate their, their
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hard earned money to towards a 'cause, you know, towards
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somebody who maybe they've never met in person, but they, they,
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they do it out of the goodness and the kindness of their
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hearts. Those of you that have done so
7:34
already that watch this show or listen to it, thank you so much.
7:37
You know, thank you for helping the family in this way.
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And if you are unable to donate, you know, again, it's it's
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sharing this around, you know, if you can go to the link, I
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know plenty of people that listen to this or watch this
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have their own networks of people, whether they it's
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through social media or through, you know, close communities.
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Please share the link around, you know, get some attention to
8:04
it. And if you can donate something,
8:07
even if it's a dollar or two, it would be great because I'm now
8:12
seeing, you know, the reach that the podcasts or that the, the,
8:15
you know, the Facebook page has, you know, at, at, at the time
8:19
that this podcast airs, we'll, we'll be over 30,000 followers
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on Facebook alone, You know, over close to 6 1/2 thousand
8:30
subscribers on YouTube, You know, so there's a lot of people
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that have come to the platform to follow what I do.
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And if we can get at least a 10% turn around of, of people
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helping donate to this, to this, we, we would reach our financial
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goals in a very short period of time.
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But again, at the very least, just please share and help out
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in any way that you can. That's greatly appreciated.
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I really don't have to say it, but you know, if you do listen
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to the show and you want to follow me on any of the socials,
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Facebook, Instagram or YouTube, just head down to the link tree
9:09
link that's posted and, and you know, follow me there.
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You can also buy merch. All this stuff is down there.
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I'm not going to waste more time with housekeeping stuff
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pertaining to my my content or my platform.
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You guys know where to find it. All right, let's get into the,
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the, the topic today, though, 'cause, you know, talking about
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reaching people and engaging with people online and the, you
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know, the, the age of the meme or the age of, of technology,
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the AI is, is everywhere now. You know, that's so much of, of
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what is absorbed nowadays is AI generated stuff.
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And I recently shared something. It was it was a it was a short
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little like 10 or 11 second long video with Bobby Liebling from
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from the band Pentagram. And it's a famous meme at this
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point because he's been repurposed this this scene from
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I forget which concert this year.
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I think where, you know, Bobby has that, you know, classic wide
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eyed, you know, deer in the headlights, geeked out on
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something, kind of looked to his face with some heavy, you know,
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doom rest, like pentagram does playing and he so so the image
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of of him doing that is is is behind him is like, you know,
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this cosmic tree. And I just put the caption on
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it. You know, Odin when he you know,
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when 9 days and nights on Aiger seal are over or when he
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discovers the rooms. Odin when he discovers the
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rooms, I think is the caption. So a lot of you probably have
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seen it. It's gotten a lot of traction in
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terms of views and and whatnot. But like I saw one person's
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comment on that thing that made me laugh.
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It got some other comments on it too.
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But the comment was something along the lines of you should
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not make a parody of all fathers suffering, you know, and I had a
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response to it. You know, I replied to the
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comment. I'm, I'm generally, I'm
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generally aware that most of the time when people make negative
11:32
comments about things, it's for their own attention.
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And I tried to do my best to not feed the trolls.
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That's a standing policy that I that I try to keep for the most
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part. But there's times when you know,
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what comes with the territory, when you're creating content and
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when you're putting things out here that get a lot of response
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from something, a lot of views from something.
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It's, it's inevitable that you're going to get negative
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Nancy's that come into the comments section and, and, and
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make things difficult for you, try to make things difficult for
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you. Maybe it's a genuine opinion
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that they have that they feel like they need to share.
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But anyway, you know, I, I gave a response to the, to the
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comment saying basically like, you know, you must be a lot of
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fun at parties #1 #2 you know, is this your first time on the
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Internet? You know, the, the, the gods,
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Odin specifically, you know, I, I, I like to call to attention
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the fact that, you know, even in the lore has has, you know, made
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a parody of himself plenty of times.
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You know, even if you just look at one reference in, in the
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mythology of, of him, you know, insulting his own son as as
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Hardbart in the, in the poem Harbart's youth, you know,
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that's if you're going to insult your own kid, you know, you
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might as well just be, you know, insulting yourself.
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And so, you know, you look at examples like that and the other
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things that Odin is known for in the madness and the trickery and
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the, and the, the, the various names that he's even owned by.
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He kind of embody this sense of this guy doesn't take himself
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very seriously. He's, he's, he's multifaceted.
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He's very complex as a as a as a figure and as a divinity, you
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know, and there's a lot of moving parts that make Odin what
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Odin is in, in, in the Scandinavian myths.
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And I go, you know, listen, lighten up.
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It's just a meme, OK? And it got me thinking how much
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of the traffic that I've received from people online,
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especially the newer newcomers, you know, have been due to the
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fact, you know, these people have come to to follow the
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Facebook page, the Midgard Musings page, through things
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that don't really pertain to actual Heathenry.
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It's stuff like what I just described or is something else,
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which has, you know, a Highland song playing in the background,
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you know, or, you know, imagery that is, again, it's the, it's a
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parody of something or it's a scene from something else.
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And then it's, it's captioned with something to, you know,
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make it relevant to Heathenry in some way.
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But I don't think that a lot of what the, I, I don't think that,
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and I could be wrong. You know, it's, it's hard to
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gauge and it's hard to, to know for sure.
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But I don't think a lot of people that that's, that react
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to these things and follow my page from those bits of content
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are genuinely interested in anything pertaining to
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Heathenry. Because when I turn around and I
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post stuff from my, my podcast, you know, the highlights of the
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show, articles on my blog site, you know, certain things that
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have quotes in them from actual sagas, you know, and some of the
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wisdom that can be extracted from those sources.
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The engagement on those bits of content is much less.
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It's much lower and it doesn't get the amount of attention that
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some of these other parody things and and these other
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humorous things tend to draw. Now that's to be expected, I
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suppose. I mean, what do you come online
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for? If most people come online for
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is for what? It's not really for education,
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it's for entertainment. It's to disassociate from the
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daily grind, from the stuff throughout your life that just
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takes you away, your, your, your attention, your, your joy, your
15:46
pleasure, right. So you come online to kind of
15:51
escape from the grind of things. You know, you want to be
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entertained, you want to laugh, you want to get a rise, you
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know, out of somebody or you want to see people, you know,
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getting bent out of shape about something that or the other.
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And I got to, you know, I, I, I, I've talked a lot about online
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Heathenry and the illusion of community that an online space
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creates. I've I've talked about things
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like this plenty time. And so this kind of doesn't this
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doesn't come to to a help, you know, fully those those of you
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that have followed me friendly at length of time.
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This topic doesn't come as a surprise that I'm that I'm
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talking about it and and drawing relevancy to it.
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But I got to thinking, you know, like how much of the type of
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content that gets shared that is somewhat related to heathen,
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right? Again, the, the parody type
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stuff or the joke stuff or the funny stuff that has, you know,
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a phrase or a song or something that is known by actual
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heathens. How much of that can be like a
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seed, you know, that gets planted for somebody?
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Maybe there's, there's a person who is, I don't know, toying
17:10
around with the idea of Heathenry.
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They're, they're, they're exploring the notions of
17:15
Heathenry and they're, and they're finding themselves in a
17:20
point of their life that they want to learn more.
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So they're following pages that have that thing going on pages
17:26
like mine or others or sites, you know, not necessarily
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Facebook, social media, but it could be, you know, other blog
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sites that they subscribe to, you know, things that have
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content that is being either written or, or published about
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pertaining to dramatic Heathenry, you know, and maybe
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the, the thing that they're showing interest in, you know,
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that, that, that funny video or that, that, that weird thing
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that gets posted that again, doesn't provide any educational,
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you know, context is kind of again, the seed that gets
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planted. It's, it's where things start
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for them. And I could think of worse
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places to get started off as you know, and is there really ever a
18:13
worse place or a bad place to get started?
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If, if, where you started your Heathenry journey, if, if that
18:20
place was after watching the TV show Vikings or, you know,
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after, I don't know, watching one of my videos or, or another
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pages, you know, short form content about High Lung.
18:39
You know, let's say that's, that's another very popular 1.
18:43
You know, High Lung has been touring for a very long time.
18:46
They're coming up on a, on a very much deserved hiatus.
18:49
You know, they're, they're finishing up a European Tour, I
18:51
believe right now, or they're on the at least the last legs of 1
18:55
and then they're taking a, a, a very long and much deserved
18:57
break. But so maybe there's things, you
19:00
know, that that people are taking from an entertainment
19:02
angle perspective and they're saying, Hey, that's, that's
19:04
something that is again, plants the seed.
19:08
So really, if it, if, if that's where you start from and, and,
19:12
and it causes you to be inspired to learn more about the religion
19:16
or the faith or the practice or whatever term you want to put to
19:18
it. Is it really, you know, like I
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said before, you know, I could think of worst places.
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Is there really ever a bad or worse place that no one could
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start off at? You know, I don't think so.
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You know, one might argue, you know, I, I, I learned heathenry
19:38
in prison. I've talked to people like that
19:40
before. The, the, the prison also true,
19:46
you know, or the, OR the, which a lot of times gets, you know,
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and in, in most prison scenarios, you know that is, is,
19:59
is usually a front for the, like the ABS or the other white
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supremacist gangs and and security threat groups.
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I know this is because I've, I've worked in the prison system
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before. You know, I've, I've, I've
20:12
worked in a correction facility in prison or transportation for
20:16
nearly a decade at one time in my life.
20:18
So I've, you know, I've seen the how?
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You know, these these prison gangs and groups do what they do
20:29
under the mantle of Norse paganism and Germanic heathenry
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and the like. I've talked to people about
20:40
that. So if one wanted to say you all
20:41
you I could think of worse places like prison, you know, I
20:45
guess you could maybe make that argument.
20:47
But again, I've, I've talked to people that have, you know, done
20:50
their time and they, they've made their mistakes and they as
20:53
a result, had to serve a prison sentence.
20:55
And they are not, they're not inherently bad people.
20:57
They just made poor choices and have to pay the, the penalty for
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it. And now they're out and they're
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doing good with their life and they're living a life with honor
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and then and, and restoring their honor, you know, after
21:09
having, after having been stripped of them, you know,
21:14
through, through, through incarceration.
21:17
But anyway, there's a lot of talk and there has been a lot of
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talk not just by me, but by a lot of actual, you know,
21:26
academics, people who have have pursued Heathenry from a very
21:31
academic angle, you know, so a lot of the reconstructionist
21:35
types have been, have been quite vocal over the years.
21:40
I'm going to try to add some source for you guys if you want
21:46
to read about them. But there's one particular
21:50
source. I know I forget his, I forget
21:57
his name. It's it's maybe starts with Aji
22:02
think maybe Joe or something like that, but it's it's no, I'm
22:07
thinking somebody else. Anyway, Wind in the World Tree,
22:13
and I'm, I apologize in advance for for blanking on the name.
22:17
I'm thinking of somebody else. I think I'm thinking of the guy
22:18
from behind the Eagle on the ash.
22:21
Another great account that if you want to follow on social
22:26
media, I believe he also has a blog site.
22:29
But Wind in the World Tree has tackled the, you know, evolution
22:36
of heathen communities online versus in person.
22:39
And it's been, it's a very, you know, interesting discussion
22:43
because one of the things that he says is like, you know, the
22:45
Internet is, is full with, with heathen groups.
22:49
And many of them, you know, again, going back to like the
22:53
whole meme culture and, and, and short form content that doesn't
22:56
really produce any valuable educational context.
23:01
You know, a lot of these big heathen groups or, or, or online
23:05
groups have produce some pretty cool stuff mean wise or, or
23:09
graphics wise, you know, and, and they're nice and they, they
23:12
catch your eye and they again plant that seed.
23:16
But as he says, you know, as, as as many of those groups have
23:18
have made, you know, many great things that have been circulated
23:22
through their through their respective places, You know,
23:26
where are they now or where will they be in a year?
23:32
So it's is is that if that's all we're doing, if that's all we're
23:39
focusing on is just spitting out content, staying relevant in an
23:44
algorithm or staying relevant so the algorithm continues to pump
23:48
out, you know, suggested content to people and bring in more
23:51
followers and more subscribers and more, you know, supporters
23:55
and all of that. What are we doing really to, you
24:01
know, preserve what Heathenry is really about grass roots, you
24:05
know, in person interactions. Again, it can be a seed that's
24:11
planted. But if that's all it is, you
24:13
know, I see, I see pages and groups that are bigger than than
24:16
mine even that are that are turning around content.
24:19
You know, they've got multiple admins or moderators and they've
24:22
got, you know, a lot of a lot more engagement, you know, on
24:26
their on their stuff. They're getting a lot more
24:28
comments or a lot more reactions or a lot more of this, a lot
24:31
more that what is it? I don't you know, it's cool to
24:36
see. It's cool to see the numbers.
24:38
It's cool to see when you know, you're in the 10s of thousands
24:40
of of whatever people accounts, but what's behind those
24:46
accounts? Is it is it real people trying
24:48
to connect in a real way? Mostly not now.
24:55
Again, there's a lot of good that's come from it because this
24:59
podcast, what I've been doing for so long, you know, I'm so
25:04
thankful that I have a platform that I can share things like
25:09
this and get people to respond and get people on here on the
25:13
show even, you know, and engage. It's all because of online
25:19
communities, it's all because of social media and it's all
25:22
because of putting in the work to that, you know, it's almost
25:31
it's it's, I don't want to say it's, it's required or it's,
25:34
it's 100% necessary nowadays. But if you're, I know, I know
25:39
plenty of people who have next to no local community in their
25:45
area, which I've pushed back a bit on with people going, Hey,
25:51
you know, you might not think that you have a group or, or, or
25:54
community in your area. But if you think that and you
25:58
look around and you don't see a lot of other activity going
26:02
around and that's where you're drawing that conclusion, chances
26:06
are there's other people in your area that, that feel the same
26:08
way. So what does one do at that
26:11
point? You know, do you just resort to,
26:14
Oh, well, I guess we're just in a bad area, you know, logistics
26:18
suck and we're not going to, I'm not going to be able to enjoy
26:21
the things that people talk about with, you know, grassroots
26:25
heathenry and in person rituals and all of that.
26:30
Well, if you're not trying, if you're not putting in work to
26:33
make something happen, then of course you're just you're just
26:37
going to be stuck in that nothing happening, you know,
26:42
revolving door of just complaining or wishing for
26:45
something. You know, you want it bad
26:47
enough, then, then, then make a way, make it happen.
26:50
Put yourself out there, make the, you know, put the work in
26:55
for others to, you know, 'cause you, you, when you put the
26:58
effort in, it's, it's kind of like, well, I guess it's with
27:02
anything, but I can, I can draw comparisons to, to, to, to this
27:08
podcast, to, to what I do socially on, on online is, is
27:12
when you're genuine and when you're consistent and when you
27:15
put the effort into it, it, it, it draws the right people.
27:20
I have very little problems with anymore, you know, with negative
27:29
comments and, and, and feedback. It's always going to be there.
27:33
If you're on the Internet for any length of time, you're going
27:35
to be faced with it. So it's, it's not something you
27:37
need to worry too much about. But by and large, I believe the,
27:43
the, the audience that I have and, and the wholesomeness of
27:46
the audience that I share stuff with is, is due to what I've put
27:51
out. You know, I'm not just trying
27:54
to, you know, we, we, we reached, you know, X amount of
27:58
followers, people. Let's, let's, let's push, let's
28:01
get it to the next one. I, I was there at one point in
28:03
my life. I remember, you know, kind of
28:04
reaching a point of creating content and going, that's what
28:08
this is what we need to do. Let's, let's, let's push, push,
28:10
push, push. And I and I and I saw the result
28:15
of that and I saw what was happening as a result of that to
28:18
me, not just outside, but within and internally within my own
28:22
inner hearths, my, you know, the people near and dear to me that
28:25
were that I'm obligated to and that are obligated to me.
28:29
You know, focusing on on this community that I had or with
28:32
this illusion of a community that I had online was, was
28:35
drawing me away from the real connection.
28:42
But you know when you're when you're craving something, when
28:49
you're, when you're, when you're maybe missing something in your
28:51
own life and you are, are, are craving that void to be filled.
28:58
One can become desperate in some sorts of ways.
29:00
You know, you can become so desirable to have.
29:05
You know, you, you can have such a strong desire to want
29:07
something so badly that you're willing to compromise things
29:11
that you shouldn't, you know, in order to have them.
29:18
What was another one that I was thinking of?
29:24
Yeah, there's some places like, you know, you know, social
29:27
media, right? So practices by, by heathens.
29:29
You know, there's, there's plenty of people that are, that
29:31
are posting stuff online nowadays and that are actually
29:34
heathen, you know, content creators.
29:36
And they're not just pretending to be or, or whatever they,
29:39
they, they have a belief in, in Germanic or North Heathenry.
29:43
And then they're putting stuff out there, whether it be
29:46
through, you know, blog articles on WordPress or another domain
29:50
hosting site or, or Facebook groups or places like Pinterest
29:54
or, or Reddit or any of the other, you know, any of the
29:59
other social spaces online. It's riddled with it.
30:08
It, it's, it's saturated, it's, it's everywhere.
30:10
So it's easy to see the popularity of it, you know, and
30:15
that behavior, well, the kind of attention that it can garner.
30:18
And it's easy to then see like the appeal, like, oh, wow,
30:23
people, I'm, you know, they're getting attention.
30:25
I want attention too. Oh, that's what all it takes is
30:28
to me to make some memes, you know, but I find it's like AI.
30:33
I've, I've, I've noticed it. You have to kind of find a
30:37
balance between it, you know, the memes, the, the, the funny
30:41
stuff, the parodies, things that are visually appealing, whether
30:46
and, and audibly appealing, you know, making, whether it's a
30:50
video or, you know, a clip or a reel or a short, whatever.
30:56
You know, the, the, the term is, there's a, there's a fine line
31:01
to, to stay true to what you're, you're trying to do.
31:06
Like for me, for example, I'll just, you know, use me as a, as
31:09
an example. I I do podcasts, you know, I
31:12
create podcasts. That's what my content creation
31:15
is. I also sometimes write blog
31:17
articles, you know, so it's a media form of content.
31:23
It's, you know, and it's all media, I guess, whether it's
31:25
visual media, audio media that we're talking about here.
31:29
But you know, I'm not in the entertainment business.
31:31
I'm not a caricature, I'm not a character.
31:34
I'm not Tanked Holman. I'm not any of the other, you
31:36
know, people that have made their brand based off of their
31:43
character. I'm Jesse and I'm the heathen in
31:48
Middle Tennessee, you know, with a wife and three dogs.
31:52
And I live in a very, you know, modest trailer near the Stones
31:56
River. And it's like, I'm not trying to
31:58
pretend to be something that I'm not.
32:02
That's not my brand. That's not my, what I'm what I'm
32:05
pursuing and my, what I'm building.
32:07
However, there are sometimes when you know, the content that
32:10
I share is not, you know, like, you know, the high lung audio
32:16
clips, you know, where I'm, I'm using high lung's music to, to
32:20
share something that's kind of funny and, you know, bring in an
32:23
audience. It's part of it.
32:26
You know, it's part of the brand.
32:28
Like you, you're going to come to my page or my YouTube channel
32:31
or my, you know, Instagram and you're going to see a mix of
32:34
things. You're going to see clips from
32:36
my show. You're going to see
32:38
inspirational messages from different sagas, you're going to
32:41
see some parody stuff, you're going to see some funny things.
32:47
So you know, I'm not, I'm not sacrificing my integrity and I'm
32:51
not sacrificing what I am doing just for the sake of likes.
32:57
It's, it's a mixture of things and some, you know, I don't
33:02
know, it's maybe I wouldn't be where I'm at right now with the,
33:05
with the numbers and with the following or whatever if I
33:08
didn't do that. So some, probably, some might
33:11
say, you know, well, Jesse, you know, you're, you're not really
33:13
staying true to, to, to the brand or to the, to the content.
33:16
I mean, I don't know, I'm just doing what I'm enjoying.
33:19
I, I, I enjoy what I'm doing. And, and it's, you know, I'm not
33:23
quitting my day job. This isn't, you know, me trying
33:26
to, to make a living out of this.
33:28
I'll never, I will never make a living out of this.
33:31
Trust me, there's not enough, there's not enough interest in
33:39
this where I could monetize what I do enough to make it a
33:46
sustainable living. I mean, case in point, you know,
33:50
you people that watch this, these full episodes, the those
33:55
of you that come to my Patreon, it only takes a dollar to watch
33:59
this. A dollar a month.
34:00
You know how long, how much that is a year, That's $12.00 a year
34:03
when you know what you can buy for $12.00 a year besides my
34:13
podcast, you know it's not much and I don't have that many
34:19
people that do it. I have those of you that do,
34:23
again, very thankful for, but it's, you know, you're not, this
34:27
isn't, this is not a sustainable source of income.
34:30
I can't quit my job and be like, I'm going to go full time making
34:32
podcasts. I'm not going to be the Joe
34:34
Rogan of Heathenry or, or, you know, whatever.
34:40
It's just not going to happen. Entertainment is what people
34:45
want. They want to be entertained.
34:46
And this, this is not an entertaining show.
34:48
I, I, I get that. There's, there's visual aspects
34:50
of the show that sometimes, you know, especially with the
34:52
guests, you know, we get the bantering and there's dialogue
34:54
and it's, you know, there's some comedic aspects to it that can
34:57
be entertaining, But by and large, this is not something
35:00
that, you know, people would would turn on to be entertained
35:05
by. Hopefully you're, you're, you
35:08
know, you, you, you're learning something.
35:12
And what are we learning today? You know, what are we learning
35:14
now? And today on this episode, is
35:15
that just that, you know, people come online to be entertained,
35:20
not to be educated. Yeah, sure, you can go and find
35:29
a lot of cool stuff, but that's the minority.
35:32
You know, out of everybody that's that's using these
35:34
platforms and these sites to to network and to connect with
35:39
people and to learn anything, that's the minority.
35:45
It's everybody. Most, most, most people are
35:48
coming on here because the numbers don't lie.
35:50
Again, you know, 30,000 people on my Facebook page and the most
35:55
amount of engagement that I'm getting is on stuff that has
35:58
absolutely minimal, if anything to do with actual Heathen ring.
36:02
You're not learning anything from that content itself.
36:05
It might, again, might plant a seed where you start exploring
36:08
and you might start seeing other stuff that I do.
36:10
You might learn something from that and it might point you in
36:12
the direction of other creators that are also educators.
36:19
I don't know. I don't think that the, the, the
36:21
type of content that I'm creating is is able to be
36:25
sustained as an income from, from, from just this one source.
36:27
So that there's other things that have to, to be at play.
36:32
And I'm just not aware of what those things are or interested
36:35
in pursuing it. So I just, I had to talk about
36:40
that this week. I had to get that off my chest,
36:42
you know, folks that get on here to connect with me or connect
36:48
with the platform that I'm on. You know, you'll see the stuff
36:53
that that the algorithm wants you to see because it's it's,
36:55
it's getting good reactions and that's what the algorithm likes.
36:58
So it's going to push that type of content out more.
37:01
I noticed that I noticed that, you know, one of the videos that
37:03
that got the biggest reach this past week that started bringing
37:08
in all these new followers and, and supporters, I guess is
37:13
again, nothing of, of real Heathen educational value.
37:19
And then the other content that is getting a lot of views and
37:25
reactions to it is nothing on my podcast.
37:28
It has nothing to do with the random Heathen ramblings
37:30
podcast. It's all the satirical stuff.
37:33
It's all the comedy stuff. It's all the funny, you know,
37:35
witty stuff. The platform's not even pushing
37:43
my original content out. It's pushing the stuff that
37:50
knows that it knows, right, algorithmically that is going to
37:54
get more response. So that's why I'd like the
38:01
Patreon thing. That's why I like people coming
38:03
and watching this show on here and supporting me in this way.
38:05
It's because I know that at least that's genuine.
38:07
I don't have to worry about an algorithm, you know, and you
38:10
know, 30,000 Facebook followers sounds great.
38:15
Well, how about you 30,000 Facebook followers, you know,
38:19
come over here on Patreon. And if you're listening to this,
38:23
you know, if you're watching this, you're already here.
38:25
But if you're listening to this and you follow me on any of
38:27
those sites, come over on Patreon, you know, 30,000 for a
38:31
dollar, then we might be talking, you know, then, you
38:34
know, it's still, again, it's not a, it's not sustainable as
38:38
as a, as a, as an income. But hey, if every one of those
38:42
actual accounts, which I know they're not, you know, I'm sure
38:46
that there's inactive or fake accounts or whatever bot
38:51
accounts, you know, I've had, I've had comments from bot
38:53
accounts like crazy here recently.
38:57
Yeah, wouldn't that be crazy, right?
38:58
If every one of those 30,000 people that follow this Facebook
39:03
page actually jumped over here to Patreon, signed up for a
39:06
dollar, that'd be cool. It's not going to happen though.
39:11
I don't even, I don't even get 10% of that.
39:13
I don't even get probably 1% of that.
39:16
It's true, but I don't care. It's you know, I'm more I'm more
39:22
interested in living my life, living my healing re real with
39:29
people, with actual people, you know, again, boots on the
39:32
ground, my neighbor, you know, my, my, my kinsmen, my, my, my
39:37
actual people that I tie weird with in person, you know, and
39:42
and share ritual with and and and exchange and build Frith
39:49
with them in person. Like that's that's the
39:51
relationship. That's the stuff that I'm
39:54
wanting more than you know, it's great.
39:57
It's cool to see the the the response, the social media
40:02
growing and and all that. That's cool.
40:05
But it's not what's, it's not my, it's not what I, it's not, I
40:08
know that it's not what Heathenry is about.
40:10
And I want everybody to remember that too.
40:13
Maybe you're listening to this or maybe you're thinking about,
40:16
hey, I have, you know, some content because I do, I talk to
40:18
other content creators, you know, we, we, we network, we, we
40:21
see each other out here on these platforms and we, we, we do
40:25
engage and we do connect. But I, I just want to kind of
40:29
maybe put a word of caution or admonition out for, for all of
40:34
you folks out here that are doing this stuff kind of like
40:36
what I'm doing, but in your own way.
40:41
Evenry is about connecting with people and it's about finding
40:46
your people, finding your tribe. That's where the real work is,
40:49
that's real. That's where the real effort is,
40:52
and that's where the real reward is.
40:56
You can use these tools, these social media platforms and these
40:59
other tools and leverage them to your benefit to connect with
41:04
people in real scenarios and and at the grass roots level.
41:09
Just don't just don't think that that's where it ends.
41:13
You know, don't don't become so reliant upon it that you forget
41:17
the time that you have to spend with actual people is is is
41:20
where it needs to be. So not a very in depth
41:26
discussion this week. I am looking forward to next
41:30
week's discussion because at the time that your folks are
41:34
listening to this, if you're listening to this on the on the
41:36
date of its release tomorrow, which is which will be Friday
41:40
the 13th of June. OK, I'll be going live on the
41:46
Facebook and YouTube channel, Facebook page and YouTube
41:49
channel for Midgard Musings. We'll be streaming live and
41:54
that'll be the following week's podcast.
41:55
That's what I'm looking forward to is connecting with people in
41:57
that sort of way and getting some people to talk.
41:59
You know, let's, let's have some dialogue.
42:02
Let's, you know, even if it's just a comment on on screen that
42:05
I get to look at and, and I get to think about something or we
42:07
get to get some conversation drumming up around a topic or,
42:13
or an opinion that one has. That's what I'm looking forward
42:17
to. I'm looking forward to that.
42:19
So this week's episode was just more or less a check in giving
42:22
you my thoughts about something that I, I have a lot of time
42:27
spent in. You know, I'm, I'm, I'm more
42:30
online than, than the average person because of it being a
42:34
content creator. You know, I'm, I have more
42:38
screen time, I guess than the average person.
42:44
And so I'm, I'm more close to that awareness of things and
42:47
making sure that that it's not something that is being abused
42:51
or, or that I am letting it carried away with.
42:59
So once again, folks, if you wouldn't mind, please check out
43:04
the, the GoFundMe for my mother-in-law.
43:07
And again, if you can donate, great.
43:08
If you can't or don't want to, that's fine, but just share it
43:11
around. Just I know there's people that
43:14
listen to this that have network communities and their own
43:17
networks. So getting the word out and and
43:21
spreading them the information is, is great too.
43:26
All right, So thank you all again.
43:28
If this is again your first time here, I appreciate you listening
43:31
and welcome, you know, check out some of my other stuff.
43:35
If you can leave a comment wherever you're catching this,
43:37
please do. It's appreciated.
43:39
It helps with the engagement of things.
43:42
If you have any ideas for the show or you want to hear
43:45
something talked about or you have a thought on something you
43:47
can write into the show, which is the e-mail address is
43:50
midgardmusingstn@gmail.com. You can also call into the
43:57
podcast hotline and leave a voicemail with your thoughts or
44:01
ideas that that sound clip does get featured on the show.
44:05
So if you want to remain anonymous, let's let me know
44:07
when you leave that voicemail. And that number is, it's open 24
44:10
hours, seven days a week. So just call in, leave a
44:13
message. It's 615-671-9832.
44:18
So it is AUS number rates apply if you're dialing outside of the
44:23
USI think most of my audience is, is is is within the US
44:27
anyway. But for those of you folks that
44:29
may catch this outside of the US borders, feel free to reach out
44:33
in whatever way you'd like to. The e-mail is probably the best
44:37
'cause sometimes the social media messages, I get busy and I
44:41
forget them or I get, they get buried and it takes me a while.
44:44
At least with the e-mail, if I see your e-mail come through, it
44:49
might take me a day or so to respond, but I will get back to
44:52
you that way. And that's the preferred method.
44:54
But any of the other ways, you know, D Ming me on any of those
44:56
socials leaving a comment somewhere, that's fine too.
45:02
I appreciate any kind of engagement or support that
45:04
you're willing to to do. And that does it for this week.
45:08
Again, just a very light check in with all of you.
45:12
So I hope you're doing well and I hope to see you on the live
45:14
stream this Friday, the 13th at 9:00 PM Eastern, 8:00 PM Central
45:21
time. I had to think about it for a
45:23
second. But yes, it's a Friday night.
45:25
So it's the weekend. What else you've got to do,
45:29
right? Come hang out with us for a bit
45:30
and see what we get to talk about and ramble on for about an
45:33
hour or two, however long. All right, so you all take care.
45:36
Thank you so very much for your support.
45:39
Don't forget to follow, like subscribe to all the fun things.
45:42
And until we talk to each other again, may the gods continue to
45:45
notice you and may your ancestors smile upon you.
45:50
We'll see you in the next one.