Learning To "Leave Respectfully"

Context is actually important. "Death of the Author" (where the context and intent of an author has no bearing on the interpretation of the text, and the reader's interpretation is sacrosanct even when there is clear and concise evidence that it conflicts with the Author's expressed intent and meaning, context of production, etc) is not actually an appropriate thing. And sometimes, due to that context, it means that not all things are actually meant for you (Read: You are not the target audience, or the audience which should be pulling from this work, or to whom this work is intended to apply)- nor are actually "red flags" outside of that context.

I'm so tired of having to repeat this lesson to others.

Let's put it into practical terms, here, with the appropriate suspension of disbelief: If I'm Jewish and I walk into a Hellenic Temple, and they require me to purify myself with Khernips before I pray? I'm not going to get angry and start screaming about how another tradition does things differently than we do (or uses different terminology for similar practices, does things we just don't, has a different way of talking or thinking about their own practices, etc). If I did any of those things, I would rightfully be considered the bad person doing the shitty and disrespectful thing in this encounter. I would, perhaps, even be labeled a Karen if I got particularly egregious about it! Why? Because it's rude, and it's wrong- especially as someone who is the outsider in their space.

Instead, what is the right thing to do? I'm going to acknowledge and accept that I'm in the space of another tradition entirely, and that they're simply different ... And I'm either going to follow the rules for participation intended for that space out of respect for being in that space at the present moment (regardless of whether they conflict with my own religious mandates) ... Or I'm going to choose not to participate and respectfully leave that space (especially if their conflict with my own religious mandates is important to me).

"Respectfully leaving" means bowing out with grace; without commotion, and certainly without outrage or throwing a fit about it ... Simply saying "thank you, but no" and going about my way with well-wishes to those who do wish to participate, and for whom the space is correct- while still being capable of holding space for the fact this space is not meant for me specifically, and how that doesn't invalidate its right to exist, its context, its tradition, its unique jargon, etc.

Just because you're reading a Witchcraft book, and we have this incredibly weird modern idea that Witchcraft books are (or should be) applicable cross-traditionally, expect some weird sort of hypersimplified pseudo-secularism from texts now, and have somehow come to believe that no one is allowed to actually speak on specific traditions unless they're BIPOC traditions or the tradition is sufficiently "niche" enough ... It doesn't change this; texts are allowed to be specific and should be specific. Furthermore, the onus is on the reader to determine the appropriate context of a text, and its tradition, in order to actually understand it and whether or not it's even meant for them. And when it isn't, the onus is still on the reader to understand that, put the book down, and move on.

Unfortunately it's very clear that a lot of you never learned how to respectfully leave when something's not for or about you, and have instead chosen outrage baiting about irrelevant differences taken wholly out of their appropriate contexts.