Last week, Kathy Lee Gifford in an effort to try and be witty enough to keep her career going said something not all that surprising about Pagan’s in general. On a mini-segment of the Today show, where she was hosting a wedding quiz the following question came up:
Why do you wear your wedding band on your left hand finger?
a. More people use their right hand to write.
b. Egyptians believed that finger follows the vein of Love.
c. Pagans believed it was bad luck to carry metal on your right
side.
Now, the question above is not the cause of the outraged Pagan influx of e-mails continuing to flood my inbox; it was her commentary as she read the answers off that set the whole issue a flame. Kathy Lee said: “”The Pagans, the nasty, bad, Pagans, believed it was bad luck to carry metal on your right side.” That’s all she said. You can watch the full clip here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25368216#25368216
Since then there has been an outcry for justice in the Pagan community. A petition has gone up, boycotts have been called for and even some Pagan political organizations (of which I am a member, so I cannot disclose what was said) have called for action to make this a political statement on the unfairness of how Paganism is seen in our country.
I can understand the out cry, however I do not believe that this is boycott or full on protest worthy event. Should we as a community take the overbearing actions of the Religious Right and bombard media outlets all that would do, would be to bring us down to the same level as those who have done so before.
I believe that as a community we need to pick our battles and not jump on the outrage bandwagon the second someone doesn’t give our beliefs the respect that we think that they should. There are more important and more pressing issues to be dealt with in the Pagan community that deserve more attention than one public figures apparent ignorance. Kathy Lee has no power other than being on TV and that is it. She has no political influence; she does not take part in the law making process and has no idea that there is a big bad world outside of her cocooned lifestyle of self-importance.
So, please… let this one go by and turn your attention to issues that actually deserve it.