Why I won't be eating meat tonight

As today is Good Friday, I wanted to post about something very close to my heart and which has affected me personally for a good part of my life. I’d love to hear your stories and thoughts and will respond to everything you throw at me. I know this can be a sensitive subject which is why I put in my own story, I want people to see an example of how religion is not just something you put in a box on Facebook.

Growing up, I was incredibly religious. Interestingly, not because of my family; they went sporadically and at big holidays, but because of a deep need to belong somewhere, to have something in my life to hold on to and that wouldn't change or get sick of me. As a Protestant being educated in a rural Catholic school, from when I was aware that I was different, it never went away. You would think that being bullied because of something that I couldn't change at age 7 would push me away from religion, it had the opposite effect. I clung onto that thing that made me different and put everything I had into it. My parents were always really supportive and so I knew that it was their problem and not mine. When I began to go to bible camps I felt that I had found people who would accept me and I could ignore a lot of the strange things they were teaching. From there I became a Born- Again Christian and up until I was 17, everyone knew me as the religious one. Even when I left the Catholic school at 10 and went to a Church of Ireland one to finish primary and then for secondary, I still felt that people didn't understand and was bullied for it there too. My faith became a crutch even more at that time because now it was personal beliefs being attacked, not the faith I was born into.

Finally when I was in my final year of secondary school, things changed. It wasn't a sudden thing, not at all, it took a lot of thinking and revision of the thing which I had been believing since I was 8 years old. I realised that I didn't feel it any more. That connection to my religion, to the way I justified the world in my eyes wasn't there any more. I had friends who were of other faiths, not just Christian, and I couldn't understand why it was that because I was born Christian and just happened to be raised it that I got into heaven when my Muslim friend, who was much more devout to her faith than I ever was, didn't? As things started to come out about abuses in the church and I thought about how they treated the people who put all of their belief into them, I knew I couldn't be the same person any more. I changed personally and felt stronger in myself and so didn't need the crutch any more. I felt confident in my own ideas and way of living.

Nowadays I categorise myself as agnostic. If there is a god, they will not care about what I was born as. I like to think that if there is something to be reaching for, an afterlife or anything else, that whoever gets to choose if I get in will see who I am as a person, not which team I back. I hope they can see the person that I had hid behind my faith and see that I was someone worth setting free. Maybe I will go back to religion, I can’t tell. Something may happen to help me believe again and if that happens, I will welcome it but I can’t force it to happen, nor would I want to.

Because of this, because of how I was treated for what was one of the most important things in my life, I will never judge someone for their faith. I have many close friends and family who have a strong Christian and today will not be having meat because it’s Good Friday. Religion is not a set thing, it means different things for different people and considering yourself better because don’t hold the same beliefs is incredibly ignorant. There will be loads of people who will put pictures of themselves eating a burger today in an attempt to spite those who believe. It is fine if you fine if you don’t believe and I know it can be annoying if a whole country is very much wrapped up in the state religion but don’t think that by saying these things you will somehow shame people from stopping it, nor will it make yourself look more intelligent because (I cannot count the amount of people who have said this to me) “religion is for idiots who will believe anything”. 

As someone who has read the bible (twice) I can tell you that it is not just a bunch of stories in a book. Try reading it before you pass judgement or look at the presentation of the faith in classical times. You will be shocked at how much you will learn. And the thing is, you can do this for all of the major religions. You will find connections between them and see that in many cases they are not that different and that there are merits for all. Don’t assume that just because someone believes that they are weak, or ignorant, or don’t believe in science (again, another one I got).You don’t know the full story. And so, if today if my friends are not eating meat or not drinking, I’ll join them. We know how each other feels but I don’t think it’s my place to tell them otherwise. 

An Open Letter to Nerdfighteria on Haters

Dear Nerdfighters,
I was about 16 when I first discovered the VlogBrothers. I have read the books, met John and Hank and it has been important to me for many years. Being almost 21 now, I have seen the community ebb and flow in popularity, by this I mean, mostly the same people loved it while the outsiders went between general uncaring and annoyance by its presence all over nerd-culture. While on the Irish Nerdfighter page a while ago, I came across a post about a Nerdfighter-hate Tumblr blog and there was quite an up-roar about it and this has imspired me to write about my feelings on the subject.


The community that is the Nerdfighters is not defined by this opinion. No matter what you do, people will get annoyed about it. Modern culture has decided, of late, to take nerd culture and try to make it mainstream. thinking that nerds are all Sheldon Cooper and should be laughed at for being passionate about something. We are the people who know that being a nerd is not wearing big glasses and a bow-tie (they do not understand fully why bow-ties are cool). These are people who can't understand how you can retain a child-like passion for something. It does not mean that we are immature, only that we can separate that part of ourselves that must be grown-up with that which doesn't want to be. I personally have perfected the art of being an "adult" when I need to be and letting go of that completely when I am around people who understand me. It is not a case of hiding myself, I am not afraid to tell people about my hobbies if they ask, but in a situation where you have to act a certain way, you can't avoid it. It is a harsh truth but it is still important. I fins that the best thing to do is to try and reduce the amount of situations in which you have to act that way but that can only go so far.

But that is not the only thing which needs to be said. Guys, everything starts from somewhere and these hate post do have a small amount of truth. I have found in my years, not only as a nerd but also as an advocate for things like feminism (many people cringe at the word), that there will always be a few that will ruin it for the many. It is usually the extremists that people remember (which is why people seem to think that I am a man-hating feminazi when I say I am a feminist) because there are a small amount of extremists who hold that view and that is what people remember. What you guys need to remember is that although the roots of Nerdfighteria is in Nerdom, it does not give you an elevated status when it comes to the lakes of fandom or even things like Tumblr. In the same way that you don't want someone discriminating against you because you are a nerd, you shouldn't work against someone just because they don't belong to the same group or have no desire to join that group.

Sites like Tumblr are supposed to give a creative outlet to people and help them connect with others of the same mindset but that can be difficult and sometimes annoying for people when, instead of talking to a person, you get someone hides themselves behind the wall of comfort that is Nerdfighteria. Writing DFTBA at the end of a conversation is awesome within the community but when it is said (or written) to someone who doesn't know what it means it can come off as jarring. The community does not define you. It is an awesome way to meet people when you maybe have problems with it or when you move somewhere new or start in a new school but it shouldn't become a crutch to the point where you loose yourself.

 But even within the threads of Nerdfighter conversations there is some discrimination and this goes for all, not just Nerdfighteria, however it is important here. When someone wants to enter a fandom or learn more about something, it should be a really fun time and there should be a community ready to help them get involved. Nerdfighteria should be that community and most of the time it is. HOWEVER there are a small group who are so passionate about their fandoms that they alienate those who have lesser knowledge and seem to take some joy from building themselves up by breaking others down. Don't let yourself become this. It is much better to feel as though you helped someone discover something new than feeling as though you know everything and have proved it to a group of people who were only trying to have fun.

To finish, I know that the vast majority of you are awesome but please remember: take a moment before you post to see how your comment could be received by someone else and PLEASE be yourself. Use your love of John and Hank and all things Nerdfighter as another passion, not as what defines you. You will learn more about yourself that way and everything can only get better from there.