The drama over Diana Paxson’s expulsion from The Troth following a brief suspension found its way onto my socials, which I am very glad for.  I am a big fan of accountability, and of organizations adhering to principles of accountability.  It is a very rare thing, and yet it is so very important in order for a community to be a genuinely safe and supportive environment for all of its members, especially when inclusivity is a goal.

Accountability culture holds people responsible for their words and actions, while also providing the opportunity for growth, change, and reconciliation before bringing down the hammer of ultimate judgement and banishment on those who refuse to be accountable.  If you have ever wondered with exasperation how authority figures are able to commit horrible acts with impunity, it is always because the communities where they have authority lack the culture and mechanisms to hold them accountable.

What we are seeing with The Troth is what happens when a community does have the needed culture and mechanisms in place, so that even seemingly untouchable authorities can be held accountable.

I am not a member of The Troth or associated with them in any way. I most certainly do not speak for them. I am speaking to my interpretation of events, and how and why The Troth’s actions and their systems of accountability provide a good example for any community that is working towards inclusion and safety for all its members.

Victims of Abuse can Never be Made Whole

As happens every single time an elder pagan gets called to task for bad behavior, immediately following Diana Paxson’s expulsion there was a flood of divisive discourse.  On one side are those who support accountability. On the other side are those who criticize and discourage any consequences, usually by pointing out “they contributed SO MUCH to the community over the course of their life,” which reeks of the same energy as, “but he has such a bright future,” after any young white man is caught raping a woman.

An acquaintance of mine who was critical of The Troth’s decision wrote, among other things, “The victims of Walter Breen and Marion Zimmer Bradley will never be made whole, no matter how many elders that they disavow and discredit.”

No one with any sense thinks the victims will be made whole by this. If you think that is the goal, you are missing the entire point of this kind of accountability. The point of this kind of accountability is to draw a line in the sand and say, “Anyone who enables or ignores abuse is no more welcome here than the abusers who committed the acts, because by their inaction it was allowed to continue.” It is a message to the entire community that there is no tolerance, no matter the credentials, for anyone who enables abuse.

Because that kind of abuse and enabling is happening again, right now, somewhere, probably multiple somewheres. Those kinds of abusers always exist, and they need people who enable and ignore in order to continue committing their abuses. It’s not a past problem. It’s a now problem. It’s a future problem. It’s a human problem.

It’s a shame Paxson refused to talk to the council and answer their questions, to voluntarily be accountable. The situation easily could have been complicated for her, and fear of retaliation or backlash for speaking out at the time of the abuse could be understandable. Instead, even all these years later, she still chooses silence and complete denial of any awareness of abuse despite a troubling amount of proximity to the abuse, and her Last Chance U interview where she admitted she was aware of Breen’s sexual interests in children.

What we are seeing with The Troth is what happens when a community does have the needed culture and mechanisms in place, so that even seemingly untouchable authorities can be held accountable.

The Troth’s council clearly wanted to give her a chance to provide them with a reason to let her stay. She refused to engage in accountability with The Troth and its community. That is on her, and it makes me wonder if she feels any remorse for enabling or being in proximity to horrific abuse. After all, if she cannot bring herself to speak out and help change things to prevent it from happening again, now, when there will be no retaliation for doing so, was fear of retaliation a factor all those years ago? 

And honestly, Diana Paxson’s original 2014 statement denying all awareness of abuse only deepens my concern.  It is very brief, and completely lacking in any emotion at all, which I find very strange. I expect people to have compassion and concern for any CSA, let alone CSA that happened to a child they knew personally.  It is also worded like Paxson barely knew Breen or Bradley or Moira, while simultaneously admitting they were involved in spiritual community together, spent all major holidays together, and had tea together every week.  I don’t know about you, but any time I have had friends I see every holiday and every week, they are very close friends I know like close family.

The real cringe for me, though, is at the very end, referring to the – at the time – new accusations that Marion Zimmer Bradley had been an active abuser along with her husband. 

“Our women’s circle met once a month to explore women’s spirituality and study the goddesses. The circle included both straight women and lesbians.  I do not recall any overt sexuality within the circle, and I neither observed nor heard about any abusive relationships between Marion and any other woman or girl.”

The part that really jumped out at me was the end of that last line, “…Marion and any other woman or girl.”  It bothers me because that statement conflates being a lesbian and being a pedophile, implying that if Marion had had interest in other women, a female child might also have been appealing, which feeds directly into bigoted ideas that being gay means a person is a pedophile.  Also, why even mention that the sexualities of the women were straight and lesbian, when the only sexuality that matters in cases of CSA is pedophile?

“Actions speak louder than words.” Well, Diana Paxson’s actions in this matter are unclear and cringey at best, and definitely a flavor of avoidance. No other community actions can excuse abusive behavior, or the enabling (and therefore implicit approval) of abusive behavior. Ever. It creates a harm that, as the person I quoted above pointed out, can never be erased, never be completely healed, never be made fully whole again. Therefore, causing or facilitating that kind of harm in the first place is unacceptable, no matter who is doing it or when it happened.

This also isn’t about “scapegoating” an elder.  Scapegoats are, by definition, being blamed for something they didn’t do, or wasn’t their fault.  She was there, and she enabled through her silence and inaction. Just the small amount of information I was able to collect on the internet over the past couple days is very concerning to me, and certainly worthy of reporting and investigating. Plus, it is heavily implied in their announcements that The Troth was also acting on more recent and unrelated issues and evidence regarding her patterns of behavior within their organization, so the accountability Paxson is seeing is probably about more than just the abuse that happened in California.

The Troth stated at the top of their official announcement regarding her suspension, that “Diana Paxson has been accused of serious ethical failings. Both public and private statements were made by Paxson that brought her conduct and judgement into question.” The Troth has specifically not accused her of criminal activity.

Engaging willingly with accountability means that you can own up and help change things for the better so whatever it is hopefully doesn’t happen again in the future. Being accountable really is an excellent alternative to digging in heels and perpetuating problems.  It facilitates community and personal growth, as well as healing.

In other words, Paxson’s removal from The Troth is about creating accountability for her ethical failings, which I believe includes, but is not limited to, her silence around the abuse. Holding her accountable even when she will not hold herself accountable shows there are no exceptions, so those who encounter abuse know that they will also be held accountable if they choose to enable, no matter their rank or prestige. Members also now have very strong confirmation they will have the complete support of the leadership of The Troth in coming forward to report abuse and stop it.

I don’t believe this will kill The Troth, like some people are saying it will. Paxson was not a support pillar holding up the entire weight of the organization. But, there will be an exodus of people who are afraid of accountability, or who consider prestige to be worth more than the safety of the least powerful members of the group. It is a shame, but at the same time I don’t see that as a bad thing. I wish more organizations were so firm in their convictions regarding accountability. They would be a lot safer and more supportive for all their members.

Fear of Accountability in Elders

It is an unfortunate truth, but every time I have seen an elder be held accountable for bad actions, there is a veritable army of elders (especially boomers) criticizing that accountability while wringing their hands or clutching their pearls and crying in fear, “Where will this persecution of elders end!?!”

In part, this is because accountability can look a lot like persecution when getting away with things has always been the norm.

As happens every single time an elder pagan gets called to task for bad behavior, immediately following Diana Paxson’s expulsion there was a flood of divisive discourse.  On one side are those who support accountability. On the other side are those who criticize and discourage any consequences, usually by pointing out “they contributed SO MUCH to the community over the course of their life,” which reeks of the same energy as, “but he has such a bright future,” after any young white man is caught raping a woman.

I even see well-meaning elders fall into this trap, driven by fear that they might be next, because a natural consequence of living a lot of years is making mistakes.  Even with the best of intentions, if you live long enough, odds are good you will have enabled or participated in at least one thing that is extremely problematic (if not deplorable), perhaps out of ignorance, or maybe even thinking it was good at the time.  The vast majority of people do a lot of things that are normal at the time, but later prove to be problematic.  This is completely normal, and the lifelong assignment is to pay attention when you find out something is problematic, and strive to do better in the future.  That is how we learn and grow as individuals and communities.

Fear says that if one elder is being held to task for their past bad actions, then maybe I, too, will be censured for my past actions and poor choices.

The fear prevents them from seeing that regretted skeletons in the closet aren’t the problem unless that skeleton is egregious (like predatory behavior). Making mistakes out of ignorance or folly or fear isn’t the reason for the censures elders and younger authorities see.  The bigger problems for people like Paxson are silence and refusal to be accountable and change for the better once things come to light.

Engaging willingly with accountability means that you can own up and help change things for the better so whatever it is hopefully doesn’t happen again in the future. I swear, being accountable really is an excellent alternative to digging in heels and perpetuating problems.  It facilitates community and personal growth, as well as healing.

If it makes no sense to you why someone is being held accountable, instead of knee-jerk objecting, it might be time to sit back and listen.  Such decisions are usually accompanied by explanations from the authorities who create the accountability, and there are always younger people willing to give expanded discussion on why such decisions are beneficial (or not) to the community. Their opinions are important because they are, quite literally, the future of any community, and without them any community will die.

Because there are so very many white supremacists in heathenry, it is easy for any heathen/Asatru organization to be overtaken by white supremacists and their ideals.  Vigilance is not just a good idea, it is essential to having an inclusive community, and effective vigilance is going to include strong systems of accountability.

The Troth Understood the Assignment

For those who might not be familiar, The Troth is a heathen religious organization.  That means they are part of a religious umbrella that is particularly inundated with white supremacists.  Anyone interested in learning about heathenism, Asatru, or any flavor of Scandinavian or Germanic paganism, needs to be extremely vigilant lest they end up with books and teachers that are of a white supremacist bend.  It is unnervingly easy to do by accident, because there are so very many of them. 

Regardless of the current kerfuffle, Diana Paxson’s books are a good and valuable resource for learning about heathenism without the taint of white supremacy. No one is accusing her of poor scholarship or spreading bad religious information, or of committing any deplorable acts for which she should be boycotted (although if you feel that is the right thing to do, that is completely reasonable). She is being held accountable for “serious ethical failings“, which to me says that her books are fine, but she is not trustworthy, so be cautious if you are around her in person.

White supremacy is not an inherent tenet in any European pagan tradition, including heathenism.  Its pantheon includes a bounty of disabled (including the ruler of Asgard, Odin) and queer deities, at least one genderfluid deity, and boasts what might be the largest number of kick-ass female warrior goddesses to be found in any religion world-wide.  None of those things are genuinely up the alley of white supremacist principles, so folkish heathens have to twist their faith to make it fit their ideals, but they’re good at those sorts of mental gymnastics.

Because there are so very many white supremacists in heathenry, it is easy for any heathen/Asatru organization to be overtaken by white supremacists and their ideals.  Vigilance is not just a good idea, it is essential to having an inclusive community, and effective vigilance is going to include strong systems of accountability.

Abuse and prejudice, especially white supremacy, go hand-in-hand.  Not all abusers are white supremacists, but all white supremacists and prejudiced people are abusers.  They have victims, and they create trauma.  The systems that allow prejudice and white supremacy to flourish, they are the same exact systems that allow other kinds of abuse to flourish.

White supremacists take over in large part by leveraging the paradox of tolerance.  A community that is trying to be inclusive is supposed to tolerate everyone, so they mistakenly tolerate someone who is bigoted/racist/sexist/prejudiced.  That person will bring those attitudes with them.  Because they do not believe in tolerance themselves, they will act in intolerant ways (be abusive) towards others in the community they find undesirable, creating hostility, division, and exclusion.  But, the argument goes, the community is supposed to tolerate that, because the community is supposed to tolerate all beliefs, including the intolerant ones, or they are being hypocrites. If this works, they invite their friends, and the problem grows.

In order to create a genuinely inclusive environment, where everyone at a minimum tolerates each other’s differences, you cannot tolerate those who engage in intolerant behavior (although I have argued before that tolerance is a really low bar, and we can and should do better).

This is not a hypocrisy, because tolerance is actually a social contract.  It only works if everyone involved is respecting that contract and behaving in a tolerant manner or better.  The moment someone ceases to behave with tolerance for their fellows, they have violated the contract and are no longer protected by it.  For the good of the community, they must be held accountable, and expelled if they will not abide by it.

The Troth clearly understands this, and when they made a firm commitment to being an inclusive organization, they committed themselves to doing what they needed to in order to keep their community safe and inclusive for all of its members, especially the most vulnerable and least powerful among their numbers.

To have a safe and inclusive community, you must create an environment and a culture where ignoring or facilitating abuses of any kind is unthinkable, not because everyone turns a blind eye, but because everyone is willing to stand up and say something when they realize something bad has happened.  You must create an environment where everyone knows something will be done about it.

What happened with Paxson is the biggest test of that commitment that I am aware of so far, and the fact that they very nearly did sweep her behavior under the rug is causing them to reevaluate and strengthen their policies.  She is someone who was deeply involved for decades and helped to build the organization, a position that in modern society would normally grant immunity from any sort of censure, let alone expulsion. 

But, Paxson failed The Troth and the core principles they have embraced as a community.  She refused to have any accountability for her ethical lapses.  She acted as though she considered herself above reproach, above questioning.  She refused to even attempt to give them a reason to let her stay.  Paxson left The Troth with a very simple choice: expel her, or very publicly fail to adhere to their principles of accountability (which would reduce those principles to hollow platitudes, ripe for further violation).

And, no, I’m sure the council was not looking for her to beg.  Begging is not accountability.  Begging is not acknowledgement of wrongdoing.  Begging does nothing to help prevent bad things from happening again.  Begging in this kind of situation is for the remorseless, a last-ditch attempt to avoid consequences. 

Prejudice and Abuse go Hand-in-Hand

Abuse and prejudice, especially white supremacy, go hand-in-hand.  Not all abusers are white supremacists, but all white supremacists and prejudiced people are abusers.  They have victims, and they create trauma.  The systems that allow prejudice and white supremacy to flourish, they are the same exact systems that allow other kinds of abuse to flourish.

If you want to eliminate white supremacy, if you want to eliminate prejudiced behavior and attitudes, if you want to create an environment that is genuinely inclusive and celebratory of diversity, you MUST be aggressive about preventing every kind of abuse.  If you want an environment that is genuinely free of abuse, you MUST be just as aggressive about preventing prejudice and hate.  Allowing prejudice means you are putting qualifiers on what kinds of abuse are acceptable and against who, and allowing abuse to flourish within those bounds.

To have a safe and inclusive community, you must create an environment and a culture where ignoring or facilitating abuses of any kind is unthinkable, not because everyone turns a blind eye, but because everyone is willing to stand up and say something when they realize something bad has happened.  You must create an environment where everyone knows something will be done about it.

Tolerance is a social contract.  It only works if everyone involved is respecting that contract and behaving in a tolerant manner or better.  The moment someone ceases to behave with tolerance for their fellows, they have violated the contract and are no longer protected by it.  For the good of the community, they must be held accountable, and expelled if they will not abide by it.

About that Trojan Horse

There is always division in any community, and it is where those divisions lay that helps to define any community.  Divisions can be as simple and typical as Wiccan, heathen, indigenous tradition, Voodoo, etc.  Or communities can be focused on women, queers, POC, etc., or some combination thereof. Hierarchical structure and other organizational distinctions and titles are forms of division that keep larger communities functional, and can feed egos and power trips.  Being inclusive is also a divisive choice because it declares that those with prejudice are not welcome.

How each community enforces their chosen divisions also becomes a large part of what defines them, as they must place boundaries and systems of enforcement in order to ensure their community is genuinely functional, supportive, and welcoming to their intended membership. Failing to have effective boundaries and systems of enforcement means the community will be welcoming, unwelcoming, or downright dangerous for different individuals, even if they are all part of the intended community.

When a community refuses to be deliberate about setting boundaries and defining those divisions, or fails to meaningfully enforce the boundaries they do create, that lack of structure and mechanisms for accountability can give abusers an easy in. This is especially true in larger groups where it is impossible for everyone to genuinely know everyone else, creating doubt about hearsay and rumors, and leaving the divisions within the group open to manipulation.

Lack of boundaries, or lack of effective systems of enforcement for those boundaries, means lack of accountability when things do get noticed.  That lack of accountability means there is little community incentive to notice anything bad going on, let alone try to do something about it.

The bad actors climb inside their trojan horses of community involvement, providing “so much value” to the community that few dare to look inside their horses and see what they are really doing.  Abusers and other bad actors flourish under the illusion of “unity” that requires people to look the other way, to ignore, to facilitate bad acts.  They are protected by “unity” that destroys those who speak up and point out any bad acts that are being perpetuated, because the whistleblower is seen as the one causing the problem and disrupting the “unity” everyone else is enjoying.

If “unity” means enabling abusers, no thank you. That’s not a unity I want any part of.

Abusers, in trojan horses gilded with their contributions to and prestige within their communities, leave a wake of broken, abused, misused, excluded, and sometimes utterly destroyed victims.

The “unity” of the community ends up being nothing more than a beautiful illusion, to cover the divisions created by abusers.  None of the abusers’ allies and enablers have to look at the victims or acknowledge their pain.  None of the in-crowd have to look at or acknowledge those who the abusers have sidelined or excluded.

Paxson left The Troth with a very simple choice: expel her, or very publicly fail to adhere to their principles of accountability (which would reduce those principles to hollow platitudes, ripe for further violation).

The real question isn’t whether or not accountability is important to community health.  The real question is, do we avoid accountability and let abusers dictate the divisions that define our communities while we look the other way, or do we take a stand and let the trash take itself out with indignant outrage over a bad actor seeing accountability.

The Troth understood the assignment, and they are doing their best not to allow any trojan horses safe haven in their community.

Good for them.