Misaimed Fandom/Myth and Religion

“It wasn’t about what Christ was saying, but about the people who followed Him – the ones who for the next 2,000 years would torture and kill each other because they couldn’t agree on what He was saying about peace and love." —Monty Python member Terry Jones, on Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Examples of Misaimed Fandom for characters in mythological and religious stories.

---

• Many mythologies and religions preach for universal brother- and sisterhood and that people should be kind and forgiving to each other. Yet humans have killed, tortured, fought, bickered, doublecrossed, betrayed, stolen, vandalized, raped, lied to, hurt and slaughtered each other throughout the centuries in name of their god(s) or ideology.
  • Most religions try to give exceptions as to exactly who you need to love and forgive, but the point certainly stands that plenty of the tortured and killed probably didn't quite qualify.
• In many health food stores, one can find "Ezekiel 4:9" bread, which, as prescribed in the verse cited, is made from wheat, barley, lentils, beans, millet, and spelt. The problem is that the bread is being made as penance; the next few verses tell them to cook it over human feces.
  • In general, Christians who treat every word in the Bible as though it is on equal ground. This is not even going into the issues of whether we should interpret it literally or allegorically; we could be here all day with that. But even with a literal interpretation, there are some books which are intended to be read as histories, not as rules to follow. And even as far as rules go, some of them were laws only meant to be followed by Jews (e.g. the ones in Leviticus); indeed, the first dang Church Council, attended by Paul and the Apostles themselves and recorded in Acts, specifically said that Gentiles who are not Jews according to Jewish law are not bound by it. The Old Testament is not called the "Hebrew Bible" for nothing, you know.
    • That said, Matthew 5:17-20 reads like a fairly resounding endorsement of the law which is backed up by John 5:46. Despite the fact that these words were likely intended for (and spoken to) a Jewish audience, they have resulted in OT morality seeping through to modern society, with an Alabama courthouse trying to get away with displaying the ten commandments.
• A lot of weddings like to use the blessing from Deuteronomy 28:2-14, where the Lord promises a lot of juicy blessings for for his people who obey his commands, including blessings for their city and country, their offspring, their produce of the ground, their herds and flocks, their tools and houses, their jobs and relatives, when they come in and go out, etc, if they obey his commandments. What newlyweds who pick that passage forget is the passage RIGHT AFTER, 15-64, where the Lord promises that if they don’t obey him, they will be host to a whole horde of punishments, including curses on everything he listed above, as well as defeat in war, conquest, death and rape of your family, exile, etc. Not much fun to read at a wedding, hence why it’s important to read in context.
• A passage in one of the Epistles that goes, "Wives, be submissive to your husbands" has been exploited both by straight-up male chauvinists and by radical Straw Feminists who are trying to discredit Christianity. Both groups seem to overlook or ignore the verse immediately afterward: "Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it."
  • Even taking in the verse immediately afterwards doesn't make it any better to a feminist - it is basically saying that the husband is above the wife, just like Jesus is above the church. Majority of feminists (strawman or otherwise) would never endorse that sentiment.
  • Many church interpretations point out it DOES NOT give the male right to abuse his wife and position, and that Christ was tortured and killed for the church, implying that men should be willing to go that far for the sake of their wives.
    • This still doesn't remedy the situation completely, as it doesn't negate the fact that it tells wives to be submissive. At most, it tells men to be benevolent masters, when modern feminists think men shouldn't be the masters at all.
• Zeus is usually portrayed in most fictional works about Greek Mythology as a strong and just, yet firm, leader of the Gods. A scant few portray him as a skirt-chaser with a penchant for cheating on Hera from time to time. In reality, he was portrayed by the Greeks as an angry, corrupt, vengeful son of a bitch. Oh, and he not only cheated on his wife, but cheated on the people he cheated on his wife with. Thank God this has been subverted recently.
  • Zeus was also the upholder of Justice and Order. He defeated the Titans (i.e., Chaos) and brought about a new world. He also punished mankind a few times for their transgressions (and not perceived ones, but actual moral failings). There's deliberate Values Dissonance.
  • And thank heavens for God of War, where Zeus finally gets what he deserves.
• Medea, wife of Jason, has frequently been re-interpreted over the years as a feminist symbol of a woman who rejects the submissive role society has forced on her, or else a figure of righteous retribution upon male repression. The problem is that Medea is pretty much the poster child for Disproportionate Retribution: she aids her husband in taking back his throne from his Evil Uncle by tricking said uncle's children into cooking and eating him. Then, when rejected by Jason over the horror of this deed, she gets revenge by murdering their children, as well as Jason's new wife. Values Dissonance does factor into the interpretation, but she was still one scary woman.
  • Both Zeus and Medea as demonstrated here are both victims of very different modern values compared to now and then. Essentially, modern interpretations such as the two above are Misaimed Fandom in reverse, as modern values take a much dimmer view to the idea of divine justice (Medea destroying Jason's life by killing everyone around him, after he broke a divine oath made to every god in the pantheon and directly offended his patron goddess with his actions), or the idea that someone in a massively superior position of power has certain liberties with his subjects (Zeus screwing around was not considered a major moral failing). In ancient greece, these stories had very different tones and lessons, which fell out of vogue later.
• While not characters per se, the suicide bombers and similar in Real Life are the result of Misaimed Fandom of their own religious texts.
• Depictions of Judas as a despicable villain, cowardly betrayer and an agent of Satan are pretty mainstream. Judas was meant to betray Jesus, so he can die for humanity's sins. Also remember that Satan actually wanted to prevent Jesus from dying, so why would he send a guy to sell him out to people who want him dead?
  • At least one of the gospels has Judas possessed by Satan when he betrays Jesus. When Satan leaves him, he desperately Must Make Amends, and is so wracked with guilt he hangs himself. Yet, his name is shorthand for evil and a lot of people think he's one of the Bible's greatest villains.
  • We have Word of Dante to blame for that one, of course. The Church (for quite some time, Christianity really was Catholic) demonized Judas for various reasons, a portrayal cemented in our culture by...well...Dante, whose Inferno has Judas be one of the three great historical traitors (with Caesar's traitors Brutus and Cassius) deemed bad enough to be chewed upon by Satan for all eternity.
  • Judas wasn't entirely innocent, though, as he makes the deal with the Pharisees before Satan enters him at the last supper. John also records that Judas was greedy and would often help himself to the contents of the disciples' moneybag, and at one point called out Christ for wasting perfume that could have been "sold to the poor" when he really only intended to get more money for himself.
  • And Jesus' own condemnation of Judas, saying "betrayal must come, but woe to the one through whom it comes!" While it's acknowledged as a necessary evil, Judas is definitely a villain in the Bible. Pointing out ways in which he maybe wasn't so bad is Misaimed Fandom in itself.
• Rastafari is a highly conservative religion, both for better and for worse. Followers maintain strict dietary restrictions, cut themselves off from the corrupt world around them to varying degrees, treat women as second-class citizens, and despise gay people, especially gay men. They also smoke ganja, grow dreadlocks, and are associated with reggae music. Guess which of these aspects are embraced by middle-class Americans.
• Satanism, anyone?
  • Case in point, the inverted cross is the actual symbol of the pope, not Satan. And Satanism isn't about mutilating babies and running around stealing and killing, unlike what a good many people seem to think.
• The vast majority of Christian theories about the apocalypse are a result of reading large numbers of passages in unintuitive ways that were largely not meant to go together. A large cornerstone is Revelation, a book that could just as easily be read as a veiled criticism of Roman policies at the time than any kind of warning about the world's demise. But this confusion pales before one of the resulting theories, which is that an Antichrist will come forth proposing peace, but truly desiring war, who will begin all of the troubles. While it is true that people can deceive others in their bid for power, this often results in followers of these theories who will absolutely refuse to follow any leader who argues in favor of policies that promote peace. Which, as you know, was a concept Jesus often supported himself.
• There is a little known part of Buddhism that talks about Buddhahood when one gains enlightenment, which allows one to gain vast magical power and to perform all sorts of miracles. Of course, knowing the shortcomings of human nature, this too was definitely put to ill intended use by not just radicalist schisms but the political and the warrior caste. Moral mileage may definitely vary, but these ways of Buddhism were definitely sought after for their use in battle and worldly power. According to Buddha's life when he attained enlightenment, he did know that he gained these powers, but he kept them secret and scarcely used them outside of being able to help teach the people how to attain enlightenment, as he knew of the workings of the material minded and cynical, and that no amount of brilliant display of miraculous means was able to help guide the people to be thoughtful and virtuous in their everyday lives for their own salvation.