Star Foster is a Phony

Posted on by

For someone who apparently “never wanted to be a big name pagan”, who barely over a month ago, went into exhaustive detail about how she was “going to be silent for a while” and needed to “focus on something other than Paganism for awhile” —the same Star Foster who has made it a regular habit to whine about how much she’s going to “leave paganism” (like this choice instance on 8 March 2012 —and again, only vaguer, barely more than three months later —unfortunately, it’s harder for me to queue up the others in a basic search, in part cos I forgot the titles to those posts), cos “omgz, peeplz are TEH MEENZ”, apparently wants to make pagan blogging a full time job, and you should pay her for it.

Wow.

You know, I think a friend of mine said it best (a friend who shall remain nameless, cos if they want to say it publicly, they can say it themself) when they said “she’s the embodiment of everything wrong with the pagan community”.

It’s moments like this that kind of make me glad I don’t want the label of “pagan”, would eagerly divorce myself from it completely if society would let me —but because, as I’ve lamented before, it’s only possible, at best, to 90% divorce the term from myself (fuck you, dictionary), it’s this phoney-baloney woman who really makes me embarrassed to acknowledge that, by certain definitions, I’m pagan.

To be fair, she’s pretty far from the most ethically dubious person in the pagan community I’ve encountered, or even heard of (and for some reason, I know a lot of dirt on a lot of pagans; everything from proposals of money laundering to pay for… I dunno, workshops or something, to stupidly trying to organise a group to steal some-one else’s intellectual property rights out from under them), but that’s not my point, at all. My point is that, for some-one who makes a habit of professing their unhappiness with being a “big name pagan blogger” to large numbers of pagans on the Internet, she sure does have a funny way of proving it, after un-obligating herself to Patheos.

But hey, I get it — maybe it’s just more fun to play the martyr, or something? You know, whine about how bad you’ve got it, but you’re doing it all for us, or some shit, because you’ve convinced yourself that you “have to” take on this great burden for THE WHOLE COMMUNITY!

I’m just so tired of being afraid of her stupid Internet fangirls and white knights, and sitting on my hands and not saying what I feel needs to be said. Star Foster is a cancer. She’s a self-made wannabe martyr, and a mediocre blogger. She has, rather infamously, treated the community she’s somehow both sick of and enamored with as if she’s Kirk Cameron, adopting a façade to do some “investigative journalism” and then posting an exposé. Her integrity is questionable, at best, and she seems to thrive on the drama she can cause, crying foul all the way, attempting to make herself a victim. She’s like a Sharon Osbourne figure, given some semblance of power, for reasons not immediately obvious, in the community she seems interested in, but conducts herself in a manner that has more in common with a complete outsider eager to exploit that community for personal gain –I noticed in her “fund-raiser” that she does say she’s currently employed? The last time Sannion needed a comparable amount of money, he’d been out of work for quite some time, he’s never asked the community to carry his arse as a blogger —and not only can I easily prove that he and I have exchanged far more heated words than Ms Foster and i have (yet we somehow ended up friends, anyway —but it’s not the first time I’ve earned a friendship through heated differences, and probably won’t be the last), but I can very easily say that his bloging is far superior in content and language arts than I’ve ever seen coming from Star Foster.

(ETA) Also note where she points out that this “salary” she’s asking the community to pay her is not a living wage —meaning she’s either going to be keeping her current job, or eventually looking for some other procurement of means to get her bills paid, and call me crazy, but I don’t get the impression that she’s going to be joining the local cock-sucker union to maintain a living income. (/ETA)

(ETA 13 Nov 2012) So, I just took a look at her blog for… Actually for the first time since she quit Patheos. I have issue to take with her statement that ~$1000/month is less income than disability. Maybe that’s true in Canada. Maybe that’s true in California (it’s determined on the state level, and calculated by the statewide cost of living average). That’s just not true in the Midwest. How do I know? As I’ve said here before: I’m on disability allowance. I’ve been on disability allowance my entire adult life, and at one time, this was supplemented with work —but since I’ve been completely unable to work (not counting Etsy or writing –which pays dick, by the way, as my Etsy store barely averages me an additional $20/month, over this last year [though in the last six months, that average has been closer to $30/month], and my novels average me less), I have been living on LESS THAN $8000 A YEAR. Star Foster is demanding a “salary” that is significantly more than disability allowance for a Midwest cost of living, and for doing something that she clearly doesn’t bother to fact check when it’s important, but instead aim for “truthiness”. Ah well, I guess it’s nice that her break from Patheos has afforded her the freedom to… Continue to say whatever misinformed, ignorant, or just plain uninteresting crap she’s always said?(/ETA)

My great desire for this coming week is that people can see through her and not give her money. Why finance someone who might just make another (apparently empty) threat to leave paganism the next time she’s criticised, or the next time she feels like stirring the pot and then reacting in disbelief because people doing what people tend to do and reacting to it? Sure, the tumour might be benign, but that’s no reason not to cut it out –cos aside from getting attention, it’s not really doing anything for you, either.

ETA: Also, for some reason, there’s been a lengthy thread about this on the Of Thespiae FB feed.

ETA 13 Nov 2012: Oh boy, the Tumblrsphere tells me she’s got screenshots! What is this, LJDrama, back in ’03? Whoop-dee-shit.

  • Pingback: “2013″ New Boeotian Calendar is ready… | Of Thespiae

  • Star Foster

    Chemotherapy or radiation? Which do you propose?

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      For somebody trying to accuse me of libel, you sure as fuck don’t understand what it means. Please, dear, show me anything I’ve said that’s objectively false, and I’ll be more than happy to retract.

      • http://twitter.com/shetakaey Sheta Kaey

        Wow. I guess it’s a good thing we never moved Rending the Veil to Patheos. I seem to be out of the loop in some ways and wasn’t aware of any of these things.

        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          The truth is that, in spite of Patheos’ claims to be a comprehensive, academic-oriented “Interfaith” site, they’re a Christian site, and it is a Christian playground. I accidentally deleted a draft, about six weeks ago, culling critiques of Patheos from vaqrious bloggers around the ‘net, including Jewish bloggers, Buddhists, Hindus, and even liberal / progressive Christians, all basically saying the same things: Patheos is a right-centre Christian site; while they like to put on an “Interfaith” mask, the non-Christian blogs / portals on their site are pretty shitty, when compared to the Christian blogs. At one time, I think a non-Hindu was even in charge of the Hindu portal –but I’ve since lost the page that explained that, so don’t take my word for it.

          While I don’t fault many of the excellent pagan bloggers who somehow ended up on Patheos, from Queer I Stand to The Wild Hunt to Daughters of Eve –after all, it’s a high-traffic platform, and I’d even be tempted, if offered– but I just cannot imagine what it was that drove the Patheos staff to offer Star Foster the Pagan editor position. Why was a self-described “nobody” getting offered such a prestigious position? My guess is that the reason is probably similar to why so few non-whites are even given spaces in the Buddhism portal, and why allegedly a non-Hindu was offered the position in charge of Hinduism, at one time. They just don’t care as much about the quality of their site as the PR claims.

  • Shelby

    If it bothers you so much then why read it?

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      I usually don’t. All this is mostly just stuff I only knew about cos I have a few Facebook friends who lack taste –but then, I’ve got both of Pia Zadora’s records, so who’m I to judge?

      • Shelby

        If you don’t usually read her and you admit that you shouldn’t judge other people’s taste in things then why bother to write this? I’m not trying to start anything, it’s just I’ve never understood these types of posts. If you believe the work someone does shouldn’t be cared about then what is the point in writing something that will make people care about it?

        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          First off, have you ever heard Pia Zado4ra’s music? It’s not as good as her acting. Believe me, the comparison is no compliment.

          As for why the post? Because it’s something I feel has to be said. I’m really tired of people in the pagan and polytheist communities just adopting the idea of “ignore it and it’ll go away” when someone is a toxic presence. Seriously, anybody who says that obviously wasn’t bullied as a child; if you ignore it, whether that’s turning the other cheek for a punch or just failing to criticise, you’re basically giving the wrong behaviour a free pass. Are there times when being overt about calling something out isn’t in one’s best interest? Sure, but last i checked, Star Foster isn’t head of the Church of Scientology, so no, I have no problem doing so.

          And read everything I’ve linked to –feel free to read further, if it so pleases you. Nothing I said about things she’s done is untrue. The rest of what I’ve said is my opinion, and for Star Foster to say that’s libel, well, THAT is libel: For anything in this post to qualify as libel, it needs to meet two criteria: 1) it must be a false or untrue statement, and 2) it must be damaging. Now, whether or not any false statement is “damaging” enough to count as libel depends on a person’s lawyer (with some exceptions; like, I could have made a post detailing how she fellates donkeys for Canadian nickels every night in the alley behind my house, but i doubt any court would take that seriously enough to agree that it’s “damaging”). On the other hand, since everything I’ve said she’s done *is true*, and I even backed it up with things that she herself has said, it cannot possibly be libelous.

          • Shelby

            I have read her work, and while I find that we don’t always see eye to eye on certain subjects, her work always gets me to think critically about why I disagree/agree with her and that helps me understand and develop my own beliefs. I guess I’m just more from the school of thought that bad publicity is still publicity. I do appreciate you taking the time to explain your reasoning, most people would have just yelled “TROLL” and left it at that. I still respectfully disagree with your evaluation of her but at the end of the day everyone will believe what they want to and the world still goes round.

            • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

              Hey, that’s totally fair. I don’t expect everybody to agree with me, on this or any other topic, but hey, if you’re at least willing to hear me out, then as far as I’m concerned, that’s still a positive outcome.

  • http://twitter.com/Fernwise Fern Miller

    I don’t quite think it’s fair to compare Star’s writings to Sannions. He sort of defines the A-list to me.

    Other than that, carry on!

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      Can’t argue with that, but I think the principle still rings true: If I’m going to put something toward another blogger’s salary, their blogging should be A-list, and the very least, B+ list; if we’re going to continue with the letter grading analogy, Foster is pretty bland and uninspiring and her fact-checking is atrocious; flat D.

  • http://twitter.com/LadyAnastasia lala lynn davis

    ~Shrugs~ Just read Stars response to this, apparently she’s not a fan of Astrology, she didn’t care for the cancer remark.

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      OK, +1, cos that was kind of clever. :-D

  • http://twitter.com/serittel stacey rittel

    Oh my gosh… you’re a terrible writer! But, thank you so much for introducing me to such a lovely little blogger. I never would have heard of Star Foster if not for your almost unintelligable, hateful, abhorent post. Oh, FYI, in NO dialect of the English language is “cos” a word. Blessings!

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      Your fact-checking is almost as bad as Foster’s:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cos#See_also

      See also: Because.

      Go fly a kite, fangirl!

      • Star Foster
        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          So Merriam-Webster needs to update. Guess how long “fag” was a pejorative for “homosexual” before it ended up in the dictionary.

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      On a more serious note, oh please, fangirl, why you gotta lie to me about which post drew which post to your attention? I’m not that popular a blogger, and after Foster’s post whining about what a big meanie-mo I am, my biggest referral link source is Sannion –who tends to link to me cos I’m a bloody brilliant writer. And Star fangirls on Sannion pretty hard; I mean, prior to quitting Patheos, she asked him repeatedly to write there. You lie about as well as you fact-check your own claims about English dialects.

      But hey, it’s twits like you that make me kinda glad I don’t get the same kind of audience Foster does: You’re a terrible liar! In fact, if I was a gambling man, I’d bet you a hundred dollars (a.k.a. “$100″), that if I went to Star’s blog *right now*, and read the comments for only an hour, there would be *at least* a dozen comments from you on at least as many posts (that’d be twelve, a.k.a. “12″, posts, dearie). If you’re at all representative of her fangirls, I think that Sharon Osbourne is a less fair comparison than Twilight.

  • Cara Schulz

    Ruadhan – what can I say? An acquaintance of mine pointed this out to me and I’m sorry he did. Star’s a friend of mine so I’m not going to pretend to be a disinterested observer. What you wrote doesn’t at all match the person I know. Star is intelligent, funny, hard working, determined, and sensitive. She’s willing to open herself up in her writing in ways I won’t even consider. She’s harder on herself than you or anyone else can be on her. Which is why she writes so bravely and then agonizes over how others see her and interpret her work. If she was a phony, she’d have it much easier. Much easier. She wouldn’t care so deeply and be hurt so easily. But she also wouldn’t have achieved so much as the Pagan Portal Manager at Patheos.

    I remember Patheos from before Star’s tenure and it was … nothing. Horrible, not read, and nothing to read. No presence. She recruited excellent writers and didn’t care if they were BNPs or not. She was looking for people with a unique perspective and people who were serious about their religion as a religion. She provided a platform for many ‘recon’ flavors of Paganism and Heathenry, not just Wiccans or Druids. She sought out Pagans with disabilities to write and Tara Miller, whom many had never heard of, now has a book coming out because of her exposure on Patheos. Daughters of Eve gives voice to the minority experience within Paganism. Star set up the social media for the site and maintained it – driving the readership in the Pagan portal to higher levels than the other areas of the Patheos. When Patheos or Patheos writers treated Pagans unfairly or poorly, Star spoke up internally and also publicly.

    Star left Patheos for reasons of her own, which I will not share, but you’ll notice other bloggers left at the same time. Not because Star talked to them, but because they had much the same information and experience as Star. Vague, but that’s all I can say about it. Since then, Star relocated across the country with a suitcase and not much else. Which is really brave – it’s not easy to leave everything and everyone you’ve ever known to seek a fresh start. It’s not easy to realize you NEED to do that, let alone pull it off. But she has bills like we all do and needs to make a living. She commutes 1.5 hours each way to her part time job while she looks for full time employment. She’s living in a rural area and working in a city – as a step toward living and working in the city where there is more opportunity. Bus fare eats up a large chunk of her income. She’d like to continue writing and do so as a paid blogger and I see no shame in pursuing that. She doesn’t give up and I’m proud of her.

    That’s my view of Star. I have worked with her professionally (that’s how I first met her) and later became her friend. I’ve met her many times face to face, spent hours on the phone and on G+ with her, and worked closely on several projects. She’s a wonderful person and a talented professional who has positively impacted numerous lives and our various communities as a whole.

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      For someone who “doesn’t give up”, she sure admitted defeat on her fundraiser pretty easily. Of course, for someone who allegedly made such an impact, outside of social networking, her fundraising didn’t really gain much interest outside her own blog.

      Everybody in this world affects “numerous lives”, for better or for worse, and many affect “communities as a whole”, again, for better or for worse. As someone who moved across the country with a backpack, I dunno…, I’m not seeing anything so special and impressive about one of the most boring bloggers I’ve ever read, especially not anything that, in and of itself, warrants a salary. Apparently others see what I do.

      You’re here to White Knight for your buddy, I get it, that’s admirable in a certain light. On the other hand, since she’s your friend, I think you’re experiencing the same sort of phenomenon of the man who doesn’t see that his wife has gained fifty pounds, even though it’s incredibly clear to others. When you have a good opinion of someone from the start, it’s going to blind you to certain things. We all do it from time to time, and sometimes we can realise what we’ve previously been ignoring without it changing that positive opinion; I’m not saying that you have to see what I do, but I think it might be beneficial to you to at least notice and acknowledge that patterns of her behaviour that I have.

      If you’d rather just sit there and white knight on her behalf, though, well, I wish you luck in that. Nobody’s perfect.

      • Cara Schulz

        My favorable view of Star was formed through working with her at Patheos. Before that I didn’t know her or have an opinion of her. This opinion was strengthened through further interaction with her, both professionally and personally. You have it backwards. I don’t see the positive in her because we are friends….I became friends with her because I saw so much that was positive. I’m a firm believer in Solon’s Precepts and they are a good guide here:

        1. Trust good character more than promises.
        2. Do not speak falsely.
        3. Do good things.
        4. Do not be hasty in making friends, but do not abandon them once made.
        5. Learn to obey before you command.
        6. When giving advice, do not recommend what is most pleasing, but what is most useful.
        7. Make reason your supreme commander.
        8. Do not associate with people who do bad things.
        9. Honor the gods.
        10. Have regard for your parents.

        What I related here is my personal and professional experience of Star over the past 2+ years as a comment in a post written by someone who lacks that experience. You can brush that off as White Knighting because it doesn’t fit your narrative, but it’s a view backed up by almost daily interaction on multiple levels – and that’s something you can’t speak to.

        I trust Star’s good character.
        I haven’t spoke falsely about her.
        I wasn’t hasty in seeking her friendship and won’t abandon her now that we are friends.
        I’ve given her (and she’s given me) useful, and often not pleasing, advise.
        I can separate reason and emotion, and can acknowledge when people do well in their profession (or poorly) no matter my feelings for them.
        I associate with Star because she does good things.

        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          You seem to think all this that you describe seems to negate the phenomenon I mentioned. It does not. I clearly have had experiences of Ms Foster that you lack and see things that you don’t because, as I previously did, you consider her a friend. You can set forth whatever criteria for friends that you like before you decide to consider them so, but you’re still not going to see everything, you’re going to send that which reinforces your opinion, and ignore what does not; if that which does not is given a spotlight for you, you’ll either continue to ignore it or, at best, make excuses for it when forced to recognise it.

          Maybe it’d be fair to give you the benefit of the doubt, and assume you have some valuable context I lack, but that would then force me to ignore the established patterns in her that I’ve noticed. And I’m sure you know as weIl as I do that even people who know another pretty well can still end up disliking that person, even if they have all that context filled in. Seriously, you may have your own logic behind this, but that doesn’t make it irrevocably correct.

          • Cara Schulz

            None of which makes your view the ‘correct’ one. You are offering it as if that is the only view a rational person could have. I dispute that. You have *your* view of Star and I have mine.

            I don’t claim she’s perfect (I’m not, you aren’t) nor do I claim her writing will appeal to everyone (mine doesn’t, yours doesn’t) – but you are claiming she’s a Bad Person. You are the one making an extreme argument about her personality, which you know nothing about other than what she posts on the internet or have (perhaps) exchanged in email. And yes, there are people who know Star very well and don’t like her (same with me, same with you) but you aren’t one of them. You haven’t ever met face to face. You haven’t even had a phone conversation. You and Star do not know one another as people.

            • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

              Your claim that I don’t know her “as a person” is patently absurd, Cara. Yeah, I know her as a can of pie filling, and she knows me as a zucchini on a rope walked around by Dom DeLuise. You don’t think I have enough data to justify such an opinion, that’s great, but clearly I disagree with you on that. In my own experiences, even when I give a person the benefit of the doubt and give someone *a real chance [misty eyes]*, I’m so seldom significantly far from that earlier judgement call that I can pretty much tell when I *am* going to be wrong. If I could fold space and put Lansing in the middle of the land of Prince and …sorry, that’s all I really know about Minneapolis first thing in the third shift morning, ..spent whatever you arbitrarily decide if a fair amount of time to adequately form and justify an opinion, and the chance that it’d change my opinion would still be so minuscule that the dilithium crystals would be better spent trying to revive Early Edition, or getting the North Pole badge on Foursquare, or at least a decent curry.

              You’re going to think of this what you will, and I’m OK with that. I’d rather you could just accept that I have different criteria for gauging people’s value to a community, but apparently you’d rather argue with me about how I’m a big Mr Wrongy McWrongerpants. I never told you that you were completely wrong, just that you might benefit from acknowledging certain traits in Ms Foster’s conduct –you can do that and still think she’s a good person, even if a thousand others disagreed.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1789093338 Kallan Kennedy

    BRAVA!! Well said! Thank you for posting what so many of us have been thinking or discussing elsewhere. I’m tired of her asking for “foster-care” for doing what others do without pay or for some sort of recognition. She’s asked the community to buy her a laptop, pay for her to move because of her own domestic issues, then pay for her to blog 8 hours a day. Comparing her idea of Pagan welfare to those who are on disability is just disgusting. She needs to grow up and take responsibility for her life instead of expecting the rest of us to do it for her. Her writing is puerile, vapid, uninformed, and does nothing to further the community. She claims she is one of the most prolific bloggers, yet most people have never heard of her. She needs to stick to her word when she left Patheos leave Paganism to the grown-ups and get a job. It’ll do her good to take some responsibility, instead of attempting to get the rest of us to carry her out of her own sense of entitlement. And, I just finished reading comments. Good for you standing up to her and her mean-girls friends. They bully people into silence regularly. Glad to see you’re strong enough to fight back. Again, BRAVA!

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      You do know I’m a boy, right? You don’t say ‘brava’ to boys.

      Other than that, completely agreed –and I didn’t even know a lot of that. Wow, she wanted people to buy her a laptop and pay for her move? Fucking hell, the last time I ran a comparable donation drive, it’s cos my carpal tunnel syndrome got so bad I couldn’t use my manual circle cutter anymore, and was at rick of having to close down my Etsy shop, and I don’t even pretend I’m half as popular.

      Oh, and the comments here are nothing. I’m 90% certain she sent someone to my donation drive for my cat’s emergency dental surgery, to tell me how “irresponsible” and “selfish” I am, cos I’m on disability and the cat I’ve had since I was still able to work suddenly had an unpredictable medical emergency ten years later, and aren’t I just a piece of shit who should take responsibility for his life rather than ask for money? I didn’t feel like dealing with that shit while I have a cat who’s got a swollen jaw and a tooth that started rotting, and moreover, since he didn’t comment here, and I was only going off a vague memory of recognising the name from Patheos, so I deleted it, figuring it was better than risking it was just typical YouTube peanut gallery nonsense.

      And I can’t believe, now, that I forgot to include one of my personal grievances, since she was on Patheos –when she decided to compare regular seasonal blahs, or (as she puts it) “[going] a little crazy, then [shaking] your fists in retribution” to seasonal depression, a.k.a., seasonal affective disorder. I go through a major depressive period every winter, and if you combine my blogs, you can see the pattern of this, where I tend to post more in spring and summer and not even half as much come winter. But hey, that’s *totally the same* as Star just “feeling like crud” and making comparisons to THE GREAT PUMPKIN and showing no other apparent signs of being majorly affected by the seasonal change.

      I’m just glad to know that there are others who agree with me on this.

      • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1789093338 Kallan Kennedy

        My apologies. This was my first encounter with your blog and I assumed (I know, I know) you were female. So, correction: BRAVO!! ;)

        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          Well, I’m very fey and queer, so I’m not that offended, just figured I’d point it out before you start, I dunno, talking about how us “wemoons” should stick together or something. ;-) A lot of pagan bloggers (that I’ve noticed) tend to be women, and a lot of bloggers with “pretty” background images, etc…, tend to be women, so I totally understand an honest mistake.

  • Pingback: Thank you all! | Of Thespiae

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000888026081 Portable Weirdness

    Domo, sempai (bows)

    What I can’t get my teakettle around is the demand that “yer a hater if you don’t validate ‘er”. You wanna like her whatever because you like her writing, her views, or her pinkification, fine. I likely will never choose go on a long road trip with you unless I have ear plugs, for both our sakes, but it’s a free country; rock on. But the militant fan base camp that insists that anyone who doesn’t play parroty yes-man is a bottom feeder make me want to photobomb them with nekkid Emperor pics. Honestly makes me want to do a sock check sometimes.

    We’re making up some “Dave Was Right” t-shirts; want one?

    • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

      Yeah, I’m kinda glad I don’t get yes-man type comments –creeps me the hell out. Makes me wonder what I did wrong.

      As for the t-shirts, and I completely acknowledge that I might look really stupid in admitting this: Depends, who’s Dave, and why is he right?

      • RedTail Coyote

        Dave was the head of the Pagan Centered Podcast before he passed last year. He basically said the same thing you did just got attacked for being an asshole and not following the herd.

        • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

          I remember that episode. At the time, I couldn’t really argue against it, but I was still willing to give Foster the benefit of the doubt. And I do still think, maybe at some point, she genuinely wanted to do right by the pagan communities. How long ago that was is anyone’s guess, but three years ago, I let the optimism override fair judgement.

          The only explanations I can think of for why I got a lesser reaction is cos I’m not as popular, and maybe a dash of people finally getting wise to Foster’s shit.

          • RedTail Coyote

            Hmm, possibly for those reasons. Dave, and I say this with all the love in my heart, had a tendency to really push buttons at the wrong time and be an aggressive ass about it. The rest of us actually fought with him a long time over giving her the benefit of the doubt. It wasn’t till right before the episode was recorded that we had breaking point moments where we decided to toss the benefit out.

            I don’t know if she ever wanted to do right. Whether she did or not, I think it’s easy for good intentions to be misinterpreted as assholerly just as much as it is bad intentions to be misinterpreted as passion and spunk. She did seem to burn a lot of bridges by the time you wrote your blog though ;)

            • http://ofthespiae.hellenistai.com/ Ruadhán J McElroy

              Oh, I have no doubt that he could be a right bastard, at times, but it’s also not uncommon for people to be lovable bastards when they’re onto something right.

              I still hold on to the notion that, at one point, maybe a very short point, she genuinely wanted to do right by the community, mainly because I am optimistic by nature and genuinely believe that even the most corrupt, selfish, and wicked people start out with a belief that they’re acting in the best interests of everyone –that doesn’t excuse corruption or wicked deeds, but it illustrates that we’re all social, clan/tribe-oriented bald apes, deep down. The fact that some people who I still respect maintain some fondness for her doesn’t hurt this optimism, either, because there’s always the possibility that they’ve seen something in her that I haven’t.

              Regardless of my optimism, I can’t help but wonder if her burnt bridges in the community were the real underlying reason in her self-removal from a pagan identity a couple months ago. There’s really no less drama amongst “polytheists”, and I know a lot of the ridiculous drama llama parade behind the legacy in Hellenion, which seems to be what she attached herself to after whatever falling-out with her Alexandrian coven that initiated her happened in the comments on Patheos and then even the post itself magically disappeared. She left a long legacy of doing stupid, clearly divisive actions during her run as the Patheos Pagan Portal Editor in chief, and there’s a point where you gotta realise that the primary common denominator in these episodes is her. I guess some people still want to make excuses for that, but long before her “Foster care” pleas prompted me to make this post, I just couldn’t see justification in her behaviour anymore –just cos the main person she’s *ultimately* hurting is herself, she’s burnt out a lot of people on the pagan community, in the process.