00:00:00.000hello appreciate you guys making time to join me this evening
00:00:15.760um shocking how fast uh how fast december is here this year seems like this year's gone by in a flash
00:00:27.520um it's been a good year it's been certainly a good year for the AFA it's been a great year for
00:00:34.980the Flavelle family and I hope it's been a good year for you guys as well um since last time I
00:00:42.500spoke with you we had a absolutely fantastic um regional feast of the Einherjar in Missouri
00:00:52.580and I want to thank the folks that put that on that was a lot of hard work by folk builder
00:00:59.620Nathan Erlandson by folk builder Melissa Mills and by some of their folks that they had helping
00:01:08.020them out it turned out it turned out amazing it's a powerful experience for everybody there
00:01:13.340I think it was it's one of those nice ones it was very very intimate experience it was in a
00:01:19.620you know, kind of a house type retreat. So we all got to hang out together and,
00:01:24.940you know, live together there for a couple of days and share with each other. And I think it
00:01:29.060brought a lot of us closer together and it was a very powerful experience. So thank you guys so
00:01:33.240much for putting that on. I know this month we had a lot going on in the AFA in general. We had
00:01:43.420a whole lot of Feasts of the Iron Her Yard around the country and around the world.
00:01:47.760It looks like those went fantastic. I'm sure that our veterans and I'm sure that the heroes in the All Fathers Hall are are happy with how that all went.
00:02:00.220Certainly hope so. And what was really neat to see this year also was for Thanksgiving.
00:02:07.580We had a lot of folks givings, which was we had a lot of AFA members getting together with other AFA members and celebrating and being thankful for for our AFA family, for the blessings the gods have poured out on us and continue to pour out on us and to share that and to celebrate that with their AFA family.
00:02:27.840and that was really nice to see. This last month we had I think just about the best food
00:02:35.820distributions that we have ever had at all three of our Hoffs. Odin's Hoff and Baldur's Hoff were
00:02:44.160able to give away turkeys for families so they could have a nice Thanksgiving and get to celebrate
00:02:50.540that with the traditional fixings and with a nice turkey. That was a really special thing to do this
00:02:57.520year I know that at Odenshof that was in addition to their their regular food distribution which we
00:03:04.300had cars backed up for a long way we ended up running out of food we had so many people stop
00:03:09.780by and get food and that was really nice record number of people stopping by getting food cleaning
00:03:15.060out Baldershof which is also a great thing and the biggest number yet at Thorshof getting food
00:03:20.540this month we got some local folks at Thorshof wanting to help out wanting to supply us with
00:03:56.280It's a wonderful time to get together with your families and with your folk and to really, really be in that holiday spirit and share that warmth with each other and come together.
00:04:08.780And that's a time of year I've always loved, but it's something that I'd like us to be aware of this year and just looking out for.
00:04:18.940As wonderful as this time of year is for most of us,
00:04:24.320around the holidays can be a very hard time of year
00:04:27.240for people who are going through depression,
00:04:29.800for people who have had losses in their family.
00:04:36.200A lot of people have a very hard time this time of year,
00:04:39.980and it brings up a lot of bad memories for some folks.
00:04:42.380i want to encourage any of you out there if you guys are having a hard time or if you guys are
00:04:50.420struggling or if you're feeling feeling down reach out to one of our go thaw we would love
00:04:56.460to help you we'd love to talk to you and really really importantly i want to encourage anybody
00:05:01.960out there our go thaw would love to talk to you and love to help please do not be afraid or ashamed
00:05:10.380to reach out to psychological professionals to get help that you need.
00:05:18.920I would much rather you get the help you need before something bad happens than your family
00:05:25.340getting help that they need after something bad happens. So please, from the bottom of my heart,
00:05:33.160I encourage you guys, if you need that kind of help, or if somebody in your life does,
00:05:36.660don't be ashamed or afraid to go and get that kind of help. And always, always, always anyone
00:05:43.500on this call, please reach out to your local GoFee. We would love to help you. We'd love to talk to
00:05:48.340you. We'd love to share and be able to help when you're having a hard time. We'd also love to share
00:05:56.940and be able to help when you're having a great time. So just keep that in mind.
00:06:16.660j link the seventh absolutely i think it's always a great thing to do when our folk can
00:06:23.700economically be there to help um the rest of our afa family if you're in a spot where you are hiring
00:06:31.060and you are in the position to make good things happen for uh for our folk it's great to be able
00:06:37.780to hire um hire other members of the afa and help share share success and things that work for you
00:06:45.060with them uh in my life a couple of times i've been in a spot different times to hire fellow afa
00:06:52.260members and to get them jobs and that was a great experience i would encourage everybody out there
00:06:58.580If you can, that's certainly a great way to help.
00:07:01.320And I appreciate you bringing that up, J-Link the 7th.
00:07:15.960So does anybody have any questions off the bat tonight or anything they wanted to ask?
00:07:21.160In the meantime, we've had somebody reach out with some questions that question that he had, and I would encourage any of you guys, if you think of stuff throughout the month that you want me to address on one of these live chats, I mean, certainly you're welcome to ask me whatever you want throughout the month.
00:07:43.160But if you want to have them addressed in one of these chats, send me an email, mattflavell at runestone.org.
00:07:49.000And I'd be very happy to do my best to answer your question and at least comment on it and give you some kind of direction on it.
00:07:58.560So a gentleman reached out and wanted to know Alcetru's take on something.
00:08:05.060He had experience with the Latter-day Saints, and they've got a lot of, first, they've got a very heavy focus on the family, and that's certainly something we have in common.
00:08:16.560But what else they have is a focus on those familial bonds after death.
00:08:22.380They've got the eternal family concept, and they've got a whole theology based about, you know, family relationships after death and how that works.
00:08:33.300I do want to know what else to choose view of that.
00:08:36.680Do you still have those family connections?
00:08:39.180What happens to your spouses or people you've made oaths bonding yourself to after death?
00:08:46.080And I figured I'd share my thoughts on that a little bit this evening.
00:08:55.020Certainly, there's no lore that gives us exact answers on all of those things.
00:09:00.920But one thing that we do know, very certainly, certainly the bonds of blood family, that does carry on.
00:09:11.660Our ancestors look on from the other side of the veil.
00:09:15.820It's the entire concept behind our desir, behind going to the halls of your ancestors, beside the ancestral veneration and worship we give our ancestors after death.
00:09:27.040We believe there's a very strong connection within the family to our family who's passed on.
00:09:34.540It seems by every indication that we have that the love and the affection that we have for our family transcends death and carries on into the next stage of life.
00:09:47.180I would have to surmise and extrapolate that that extends to people we're in an oath relationship with as well.
00:09:55.080I can't imagine a situation where we pass on, we no longer care about our spouse, no longer care about comrades that we've made oaths to, people who we were close to, adopted family, spiritual family.
00:10:13.160I have to believe that we care about those people and still have that affection.
00:10:17.060I don't know exactly how that plays out in the terms of service on the other side of the veil, but through the gift cycle and through our celebration of not just our kin, but the people that are special to us in Sambal and in altar work, I believe that connection is still there.
00:10:40.580Whether it's exactly the same as it was with our relationship here, here in Midgard, can't say. But there's absolutely something there. And I think that those bonds still have power once we're once we're on the other side of that veil.
00:10:57.420um there's countless stories and countless experiences of people greeted by their loved
00:11:04.240ones when they have near-death experiences of having that interaction with the spirits of
00:11:11.620those who've passed i've shared some of my own as far as things that have happened at dc or bloat
00:11:17.460so i know that to be true and i think that's the best we have to go on i know sometimes it's
00:11:23.380uncomfortable that we don't have an exact this is this and that's that's that after you pass
00:11:28.820and I think we have some good ideas but to know for 100 certain all the mysteries of the other
00:11:35.300side don't think we have that I think that's part of I think that's part of the experience of life
00:11:41.780is that great mystery and is seeking and trying to learn as much about it as we can but we believe
00:11:48.980very much in the afterlife. We believe very much in being reunited with your family. We believe
00:11:55.240very strongly in the concept that you can overcome the condition of your earthly humanity and that
00:12:04.280you can ascend to something more and something better and something closer to our gods. So
00:12:10.000I'm excited to see what that's like when that time comes. Hopefully it's a long day off.
00:19:15.880uh katla asks a really interesting question and i know it's something a lot of folks struggle
00:19:19.640with and think about unfortunately uh she says
00:19:23.320what about when you have a family member who's a person better better left unconnected somebody
00:19:32.540evil dishonorable or abusive unfortunately a lot of a lot of our folk have abuse in their past and
00:19:41.500have family members that are kind of better left uncelebrated that's unfortunate honestly
00:19:52.000that was one of the biggest, the most dreadful things that could happen to our ancestors was
00:20:01.140strife amongst kinsmen, because we all kind of share cool points, for lack of a better term,
00:20:08.060and if another family and yours are competing, you can compete and score points or lose points,
00:20:16.140but when it's the same family, when something bad happens to one of you, you guys both lose,
00:20:20.400So there's no winning. It's something that the more harm you do to your family, the more harm they do to you, your whole family suffers. And that's a really hard thing. And it's a hard cycle to break.
00:20:31.440there's a connection with those people on whether we want it or not to a degree but I think that
00:20:43.720your time is much better spent focusing on the the further your family tree goes back there may
00:20:50.900be only a handful of your family who've passed that you knew personally and certainly having
00:20:55.900that relationship and maintaining that with them when they're on the other side is very important
00:21:00.000but there's hundreds and thousands of ancestors in your family tree and just because one of them
00:21:09.040is was unfortunately not an honorable person or did bad things to their family doesn't mean that
00:21:16.060that person's parents that person's parents parents aren't worthy of you honoring and spending that
00:21:22.200time in ancestral worship about so you know put that person aside if you can't if you can't
00:21:29.380reconcile the trauma that person's caused or the person they were. That's okay. It is what it is.
00:21:34.780That's weird. They've woven for themselves. But I would urge that you don't let that cut you off
00:21:40.880from that side of a family or from that branch of your ancestry. Because I think that when we look
00:21:48.640back, chances are there are a lot more great ancestors that you have than abusive or dishonorable ones.
00:21:59.380Jared Williams, we are absolutely accepting members. I am really sorry and frustrated to
00:22:20.020hear that you have emailed people and they haven't gotten back to you. I hope there's
00:22:23.940kind of a technical problem and not anything else but i promise you right now if you tell me who
00:22:30.500you've reached out to or you send your email address on the side we will have for sure one
00:22:38.100or more of our folk builders reach out to you uh this evening so you let us know over on the side
00:22:44.900or if you want reach out to me personally matt flavel at runestone.org and i promise i will get
00:22:50.740back to you and i'll make sure that somebody does get back to you like i said i'm very sorry that
00:22:54.580happened and i'm glad you're still listening tonight and hopefully you'd still like to join
00:22:59.780and be part of our family trey there is a folk builder near central montana ryan harlan is in
00:23:11.940central montana and he would love to talk to you r harlan at runestone.org
00:23:19.620hopefully uh mandy or someone can link that in the side for you
00:23:26.740hey bo good to have you with us tonight
00:23:41.940Okay. Ruben asks, how do the Hoffs work from the inside as far as structure and who does what? First, we absolutely do. It depends on what official leadership we have close to that Hoff. If we have Witten members, if we have Gothar, if we have folk builders.
00:24:04.720like i said earlier we are pretty selective we don't like to get a hof unless we have
00:24:09.200some you know hopefully multiple uh gothar lined up to be able to help run that place
00:24:16.480our ordained gothar are in charge of the spiritual functioning at the hof certainly
00:24:22.800and of making sure that the religious services go on well there they also are in charge of making
00:24:29.840sure our folk builders are organized and doing their part our folk builders very often take a
00:24:36.160lead in running events and doing logistics for events setting up the food distributions
00:24:43.920setting up meals what we have at each one of our hoffs is a hoff manager and they're someone that
00:24:52.640works with the bank account and the funds and make sure the bills get paid and it's financially
00:24:58.720sound and projects are budgeted for at each of our hoffs we also at each of our hoffs have a hoff
00:25:05.440historian that's been a little bit rocky start getting that all figured out but history is
00:25:10.160important to us it's important to our folks we have a historian at each of the hoffs keeping track of
00:25:15.040the history of that location the development of that hoff and of our folk in that area
00:25:21.040and that's kind of how they work we have a lot of volunteers though and volunteers don't have0.95
00:25:26.320to be folk builders or go thar to be big parts of making those hofs work it takes a lot of folks
00:25:32.560and a lot of people that don't have any title are the people that are there putting in the work0.99
00:25:36.400on repairs on maintenance on staffing any of our community interactions or any of our food
00:25:43.840distributions got a whole lot of a whole lot of good folks that way and it depends what you have
00:25:48.960in your area at your hof sometimes we've got we've got people in the afa with all different
00:25:53.680backgrounds and all different skill sets luckily at odenshoff we have a lot of people in the trades
00:25:59.440that are able to do electrical things do plumbing things do carpentry work so that's very fortunate
00:26:06.400other places we may have people that are really good at grant writing or you know figuring out
00:26:13.680resources as far as our food distribution or community interaction so we got different people
00:26:18.640and we try to try to help everybody who wants to help have a place in a way that they can help make
00:26:23.680those work i hope that gets what you're asking if not feel free to ask me something a little bit
00:26:28.000more specific we got a got a visit here from my favorite human my beautiful daughter aubrey i think
00:26:37.120she's sleepy it's getting a little bit late in the day for her but i love her very much and i'm
00:26:44.080excited and she's certainly somebody i'm excited about celebrating the holidays with coming up here
00:26:50.000and celebrating yule and and all those fun things she's starting to get old enough to where maybe
00:26:56.880she'll have a little bit of memory about what we're doing but i appreciate her joining us0.96
00:27:01.600She's wiggly, so I'm going to let her go to her mama.0.98
00:27:30.020And Eric, you are in Alberta. You are going to want to talk to, I'd like you to talk to Ryan Harlan, the gentleman that I mentioned earlier, who's in Montana.
00:27:49.300But I'd also like you to talk to our go-fi, Joe Rosenic.
00:27:54.920Hopefully somebody can link him over on the side and tell you his email address, jrosenic at runestone.org.
00:28:03.080But he is in the process of moving to Idaho.
00:28:07.320And either of those gentlemen, both of those gentlemen, would love to get you set up and help you connect with people.
00:28:14.080I know that interacting across that border has been very difficult since all the COVID lockdowns, but we really want to build a stronger community in Canada.
00:28:24.660And since our last call, we've had several Canadians express interest, wanting to get together and wanting to do something.
00:28:31.060So please do reach out and we would love to see more happen in Alberta.
00:28:34.420As a matter of fact, one of the people we spoke to in this last month about this was from Alberta.
00:28:44.080jesse uh in north georgia you're in a you're in a decent spot if you're willing to drive a little
00:28:55.360bit we're about to have new york's off down in uh central florida and uh we have thorshoff
00:29:01.920up in north carolina so uh we got another uh one of our gothar trent east and he makes that drive
00:29:08.960up to thorshoff pretty regularly so you may want to talk to trent maybe y'all can carpool maybe
00:29:13.520y'all can figure something out but got plenty of people to connect you with in north georgia
00:29:21.920ah obsidian skull what is the afa's position on heathen tribalism i would love to answer
00:29:29.520that question i want to know a little bit more i want to understand what you're asking a little bit
00:29:34.640and i'll throw this out here in the meantime
00:29:36.880tribalism's gotten thrown around in us true circles a lot and it means different things
00:29:45.220to different people so it's hard to address so yeah if you tell me what you mean by heathen
00:29:50.880tribalism i will absolutely give you an answer on that
00:30:06.880Folk builder James Ault is over there putting in work in the comments section.
00:30:14.120James, I appreciate you getting everybody connected.
00:30:17.580We've got great folk builders and AFA folks in this chat on the side
00:30:21.680that really helped me out a lot by connecting you guys
00:30:25.020and giving you help getting connected on the side.
00:30:28.720And I appreciate you guys stepping up and doing that.
00:30:36.880So, Eric asks, what's the proper way we can promote the AFA to possible future members?
00:30:57.060It's a complicated question because it's not a one-size-fits-all answer.
00:31:01.320I'd say the first and foremost, most important thing you can do. Make yourself a vision of success. Be happy. Look good. Live a good life. Be in good shape. Be successful. Try to be the best version of you that you can be.
00:31:22.800and beyond that when you do that wear your hammer wear it out be proud of it that lets
00:31:29.880other people know that you're also true and from there when people ask or when you have an
00:31:37.380opportunity don't push them to join but push that the AFA and also true has made you a better person
00:31:46.180and has been a part of your success, assuming that that's true.
00:31:50.960I think that's the best thing you can do because you're a living
00:31:54.340billboard for the Ask True Folk Assembly.
00:31:58.680And it's made your life better and it's helped you to be the
00:38:24.500I'm sorry, our Ohio person's asking if we got folks near Cincinnati.
00:38:30.400I'm pulling up my handy-dandy AFA member map here.
00:38:33.960Yes, we've got tons of people in the Cincinnati area.
00:38:36.760I'm looking at, like, 20 folks right now real close in and around Cincinnati.
00:38:41.540So folks, they can get you connected and get you all set up.
00:38:54.100Ruben, as far as a virtual moot, we like to do stuff in real life and get together, but we do.
00:39:00.760And we're looking for chat opportunities for folks to get together on regional phone calls, regional meetings.
00:39:05.780i know some of our places do that regularly i'm not sure where you're joining us from tonight but
00:39:13.120your local folk builder may be very interested in having those kind of calls um like i said we have
00:39:18.560a lot of those going on um so yeah reach out to your local folk builder and if it's something
00:39:23.240you'd be interested in suggest that and if something you'd be willing to to host or be a
00:39:28.360part of i'm sure they'd be happy to happy to try to get that going for you i know we've got people
00:39:33.560that are spread out and sometimes it's harder to get together with people in person than we'd like
00:39:39.480it to be. So I think that's a really good idea. We got a lot of good technological resources that
00:39:44.720we can use to keep ourselves close together and to keep that family feeling going. So please do
00:39:51.140reach out to your local folk builder. He or she would be very happy to help you.
00:40:03.560um so we got a question how should we try and relate to universalists i'm unsure of the proper
00:40:25.720things to say um i don't it's very tempting to just give a flip response to that and i don't
00:40:34.440i don't mean this harshly or the way it comes off um i think in order to understand that
00:40:41.960the first big thing is why are we relating to using universalists is there somebody you know
00:40:48.200that has questions or that's questioning whether or not they should stay universalist or become
00:40:54.600folkish because i think the answers are really different i think in general when i've encountered
00:41:00.040universalists certainly in the last several years i haven't found them really wanting a dialogue i
00:41:06.600haven't found them really wanting to come to understanding i found them just to be hostile
00:41:10.760to what we do because their worldview is so different one of the things that's gone on in
00:41:16.120politics and everything certainly in the west in the last i don't know five or six years has been
00:41:23.880this erosion of the middle to where everybody's polarized into dramatically different extremes
00:41:31.320and so i think relating to universalists i would advise that you have a good reason to on what
00:41:39.160you're trying to accomplish and if they're coming to you and they're wanting to explore your beliefs
00:41:44.920i would relate to them proud of who you are and what you believe in i wouldn't start um feeling
00:41:50.600you need to justify yourself or to qualify what you're saying or to get on the defensive no we're
00:41:57.560not doing anything wrong be proud of who you are and what you believe and approach them with that
00:42:03.480in mind not aggressively but just proud of who you are and proud of what you stand for because we're
00:42:09.160not doing anything wrong we're doing the right things if they have questions be open and honest
00:42:13.720and answer them truthfully i think we also get in trouble when we hem and haw about our answers
00:42:19.560because we know they may not be politically correct or the universalist may not like them.
00:42:24.880Be open and be honest. And you'll find even universalists, a lot of them will respect
00:42:29.200honesty. But I'd encourage you to do that. Pick your battles. I don't think it's worth a lot of
00:42:36.440fussing and fighting with people that have no interest in having a serious dialogue. If they're
00:42:42.560just set on being insulting, then I wouldn't engage them. But if you do, like I said, be proud,
00:42:49.120Stand up for who you are, what you believe, and express those things boldly and straightforwardly.
00:43:19.120I think some folks are on the side. Joel's making a really good point.
00:43:26.720As far as to spread the message of Ausitru, if you're a successful person and you show symbols of your faith, you wear your hammer, you do Ausitru things, you talk about your faith, it draws people to you.
00:43:41.640Success attracts success and people want to be with winners.
00:43:45.440if you are successful and you make your life better and that's the thing don't get caught up
00:43:51.300thinking that you need to you need to be here but you're here worry about where you were versus
00:43:58.280where you are we're all going to be at different levels but if you are the best you've ever been
00:44:03.340if you're the best version of you that you can be or you're working towards it that success and that
00:44:09.740positive trajectory it's attractive to people they want to know what you've got they want to
00:44:14.600be part of what you got. They want to stand in your shine. So if you can use that to bring
00:44:20.300people towards Ausatru, that's fantastic. And it's a good service for your folk and for your gods.
00:44:24.980so i was assuming with the universalist question that we were talking about um you know
00:44:50.180know white universalists if we're not if we're talking about different people from different
00:44:56.560backgrounds that are universalist if they're uh people that are wondering about you know why we're
00:45:02.620folkish and they're uh they're african or or asian or whatever they might be a good point is to point
00:45:11.480out that all races of people have their own indigenous faiths and their own indigenous folk
00:45:18.240religions and celebrate those encourage them to look into those encourage them to embrace those
00:45:24.480there's a lot of really great ones out there not for me they're not for us but they certainly are
00:45:29.040for their people and that's a good way to keep the conversation positive but express you know where
00:45:36.800we're coming from in a way that they can relate to and that in their own way they can participate
00:45:41.120in a way that's relevant to their ancestors.
00:46:07.120And we've talked this over with our lawyer.
00:46:09.120I'll tell you the reason that we don't is because the issue of this vaccine is a political one, and while the vast majority of us, myself included, don't want to get the vaccination, don't believe it's good, believe this vaccination for this disease implemented by these particular regimes is all bad.
00:46:35.300But in order to issue a religious exemption, we have to do it on principle.
00:46:40.380And in order to do it for the vaccine, we would have to believe that vaccination is bad.
00:46:46.040And we don't. There's a lot of vaccinations that are really good under the right circumstance with the right disease that we all believe in the severity of and a vaccine that we trusted by administrations that we trust.
00:47:00.520You know, many of us would absolutely be for that vaccine.
00:47:04.360The issue is this vaccine for this disease at this time. And so it's a really hard thing. I want you to know that myself and the members of AFA leadership fight the same struggle you do. We're not pro this thing, most of us.
00:47:19.580But we take the religious exemption super seriously because we only want to use that when we can defend it and justify it on the right principles so that it stands up and so that when the AFA issues a religious exemption it's respected.
00:47:36.580That said, there's a lot of options depending on where you're at. Many states and many places, you don't need a note from your church. You just need to demonstrate that this is a strongly held belief that you have.
00:47:51.380So I'd encourage you to look into that locally and to ask local people who have the same concern about vaccines, local AFA people, because a lot of our members and some of our leadership have had to do that.
00:48:02.860And we'd certainly help talk to you, you know, talk you through the process or help you find resources.
00:48:08.620Like I say, I would love to be more helpful on it because we're absolutely at least I'm absolutely with you in spirit on it.
00:48:18.740Um, you know what, that's a fair question, Jesse, I asked him about we
00:48:41.700strange. A lot of folks in their 20s, weed isn't a big deal. It never has been a big deal in your
00:48:55.660lifetime. Since you've been an adult, it's been legal a lot of places. There's a lot of us that
00:49:02.740grew up, weed is the devil's weed. It's the most evil thing. It's a gateway drug. It's going to
00:49:09.180ruin your life. It's going to do all this stuff. A lot of that turns out to be overblown. But a lot
00:49:15.800of us still associate it with degeneracy and a bad culture. And a lot of people don't. The AFA
00:49:22.460doesn't have a weed policy other than we try to be respectful to parents and how they're trying1.00
00:49:29.720raise their kids um we would encourage that you don't do a bunch of weed around afa children and
00:49:40.920families um you're an adult and if it's legal where you're at then you know we we don't have
00:49:46.120any any sweeping condemnation of it i don't want to get on it that way the biggest thing like i said
00:49:52.120our biggest concern about it is we don't want to disrupt what parents are trying to teach their
00:49:57.720children and we want to be respectful of that and that's all if you smoke weed then cool i hope it
00:50:02.740helps you i hope it's you know getting you what you want from it in a productive way but like i
00:50:08.880said just do please be mindful if you're at afa events shoot be mindful in general of other
00:50:14.220people's kids and you know we don't want you blowing weed clouds on them and we also don't
00:50:20.560want you sending a mixed message of maybe what their parents are trying to teach them do keep
00:50:25.220in mind that a lot of those kids' parents were raised maybe very differently than you
00:50:28.680when it comes to their concerns about weed.
00:50:37.960Giga Squid, how do I feel about groups like NSM?
00:50:49.340I feel that a lot of, it's hard because you can't paint,
00:50:53.340you can't paint all of the groups on the far right end of the spectrum as with one brush
00:51:02.220a lot of different people a lot of different groups with a lot of different ideologies the
00:51:07.680only groups whose ideologies i'm ready to go out here and fully endorse is the austro folk assembly
00:51:13.360um i think it's great for people to be politically active as long as they're politically active in a
00:51:21.360legal way. But I think that fetishism of different movements of the past isn't helpful. I think it's
00:51:30.720more divisive than it is helpful in building something for today. I think that needless
00:51:39.640shock value and extremism in a way that's going to scare normal people is not effective and not
00:51:50.260helpful. I don't think it does anything to bring your cause forward. I think it just sets other
00:51:55.960people who may agree with you on a lot of points. It sets everyone back when you scare people with
00:52:02.860whatever your LARP might be. If it's Nazi dress up or if it's Viking dress up. If it's dress up
00:52:11.540like something scary in the past, I don't think that's necessary to push good values in today's
00:52:18.080world so i think there's a there's a wide spectrum there and i can't talk you know i'm not knowledgeable
00:52:22.720enough about nsm to have a lot to say about them but what i've seen i don't think that's helpful
00:52:30.400for what we're trying to do i think there may be some good intentioned people i think there's bad
00:52:34.480intention people too the other thing to look out for in groups like that i'd say and you know we
00:52:41.840we run into this, anybody who tends to be politically right runs into this is folks that
00:52:48.380are just out for shock value and just out to be contrarian. Some of the most extreme right-wing
00:52:54.580people right now are extreme that way because that's the edgy thing to do. And if we were living
00:53:00.500in the society they say they want, they'd be extreme communists or extreme lefties in this
00:53:05.320way or that way. They would find whatever is counterculture, and their point isn't really
00:53:09.800about positive values they support as much as much as it's about rebelling against whatever's
00:53:15.000currently in vogue. So look out for those kind of folks. That's about the best I could say in
00:53:39.800a little bit behind on the questions guys you guys have been awesome with having stuff to talk
00:53:54.600about tonight the hours this is me um but yeah it's been a really good chat tonight on the side
00:54:01.840it looks like sorry guys I know there's dead air while I'm reading over here on the side
00:54:29.400But like I said, it is a very good conversation.
00:54:52.400OK, so Jesse asks a follow up to the vaccine question that people do bring up.
00:54:58.400Because there's an element that does affect or have to do with DNA in some way, he wants to know if we would object to that.
00:55:07.820And then the question that we've had behind the scenes is, would we in all circumstances?
00:55:15.920If we retroactively decide we want to make an exemption for this vaccine and then we look for reasons, we can find something and we can make something up and come up with something.
00:55:27.380but that's wrongheaded and it's not an honest way to deal with it. I say it's wrongheaded.
00:55:31.540I don't mean that. I understand. We feel that for the AFA, it's the wrong way to go about it.
00:55:38.660We want to base it on actual and sincere principle and not on trying to justify a specific particular
00:55:46.500case. And it's important on how we do policy and how we make any of these stands that we don't
00:55:52.660make them based on every new specific thing but that we're on solid principles that are timeless
00:55:57.860and that's how our exemptions are going to stand up in courts and in society to have value
00:56:04.340if there was a dna altering you know something that messed with some part of the dna that could
00:56:09.060eliminate down syndrome or eliminate spina bifida or make it to where none of our children
00:56:15.540could possibly be you know mentally handicapped or crippled in other ways would we object to that
00:56:21.780I think most of a lot of us wouldn't, you know, if we could have something that if we could take some kind of a vaccine that messes with DNA that can ensure that you'd never have Alzheimer's or dementia, would we be opposed to that?
00:56:36.420I wouldn't. So there's a lot of cases that a great many of us would be OK with that.
00:56:43.800Now, if that's a personally held belief of yours, that's sincere, then again, please absolutely state that and write that in an effective way to your employer or whoever's trying to mandate that you take a shot.
00:56:56.360And I hope that works out if that's what you believe.
00:56:59.060But we've we've run that. And to be honest, there's a lot of cases to where something did affect genes in a way that eliminated some really terrible stuff from our folk.
00:57:11.060We'd probably be in support of that, or at least a lot of us would individually.
00:57:15.060And I'd say Jesse you alter your blood all the time by choosing who you procreate with
00:57:28.300by choosing who you have children with by making those choices by advising who your
00:57:33.640children have children with think we make choices all the time to.
00:57:42.040protect or get the best situation that we can to affect our bloodline and i'm not i'm not advocating
00:57:50.120for dna-based medical stuff honestly i'm not a doctor and i can't talk educatedly on it
00:57:56.520but that was our thought process about that
00:58:05.000good question mary mary asks what the afa's position on abortion is
00:58:12.040So the AFA's position on abortion, just to start with, is what most everyone's position
01:01:02.480So you guys asked about groups like NSM
01:01:30.840And we have a guy on the side that's making a very good point.
01:01:37.840A lot of the more extreme groups that are more overt with very extreme things, sometimes those groups have agent provocateurs, not this guy.
01:01:51.920I know that we all run into these people that everybody they don't like is a fed.
01:01:55.620But there are folks that infiltrate some of these groups, and we have seen in the past that they try to lead these groups in very dangerous directions and lead individuals within those groups to make very bad choices that mess up the entire rest of their lives and can wind them in a lot of trouble.
01:02:19.680Do be aware that that is a possibility in some of these more extreme groups, especially if anyone in that group advocates any form of illegality or pushing that line towards accelerationism.
01:02:32.680Please be very aware of that and stay away from that.
01:02:49.680Tyler, I answered your questions. I answered them. I'm glad that you showed up on this. I answered them at the beginning of the hour. You should, if you listen to this tomorrow, it should be in the first five or 10 minutes. I did my best to answer your questions. This is the gentleman that asked about the Latter-day Saints and our relationship with family after they pass.
01:03:12.600so please listen to that and if you have any follow-up questions please email me and i will
01:03:17.400talk to you about them tomorrow or i'll address them next month or whatever you'd like and thank
01:03:21.560you for emailing me that and asking that question so ryan's asking if we're going to get more afa
01:03:33.000hats more afa stuff in stock soon we are working on our store and our merchandise
01:03:40.440i don't want to lie and say soon when i don't know we are working on getting some more of that stuff
01:03:45.240set up um we've got some actual afa members that want to be involved in the production of those
01:03:50.120kind of products and so we are working on it it's going slower than i'd like can't promise
01:03:56.360when we'll have more afa stuff in stock we're always going to have books in stock we've got
01:04:01.240calendars a little for next year that'll be in stock very soon um as far as hats and clothing
01:04:07.640It's a little bit harder because you get those in different sizes and you end up with a lot
01:04:12.440of back inventory that doesn't move and a lot of waste.
01:04:15.640So we're trying to resolve that right now.
01:04:32.680Eric, we absolutely have flags on the website.
01:04:37.640Sorry, guys, again, I'm catching up over here on the side.
01:05:07.640I have not seen that show. I did hear about it. It's ridiculous and it's offensive. I think
01:05:25.700anything where you deliberately misportray real people that existed is a slap in the face to
01:05:31.380actual people that lived an actual life. Those shows are silly, but I've always felt this way.0.86
01:05:39.860I don't think that time and space within how long ago in history something happened0.88
01:05:47.400makes a person and personal dignity and personal reputation any less serious or any less important.
01:05:56.060And it's just as important for me to make sure that my father or someone I knew once they've passed is accurate, accurately represented.
01:06:08.240When we talk about military folks who have done done their service, anybody who falsely claims things that they didn't do and does stolen valor is absolutely unacceptable to most anybody, most anywhere.
01:06:21.680I think when you go back in history and you deliberately misrepresent a real person that lived and did things, it's shameful.
01:06:30.580And I think when you misrepresent a culture like that to try to make it conform to today's political correctness, it does a disservice to everyone who doesn't know better, who watches it, and it starts teaching people things that aren't true.
01:06:45.900I think lying to our children and I think lying to people about our history is a shame to all the people who've come before us.
01:08:15.900and want it to become an afa i think that sounds amazing i'd love to hear more about that
01:08:24.400um if you could message me on the side send me a message at matt flavel at runestone.org
01:08:31.400if you're serious about that i would love to talk to you about that
01:08:45.900Uh, Jesse is asking about an obscure Christian sect that only believe that whites are eligible to enter in heaven and wants to know if the AFA would like to interact with those folks. Depends in what way.
01:09:00.260Um, we certainly are advocates for our folk, but Christianity is fundamentally, you know, opposed to our faith, opposed to our values, opposed to our gods, and opposed to everything that we're that we're about, I'd certainly be willing to talk to anybody.0.57
01:09:18.960And if there's some point of commonality we can work on, I have the conversation.0.95
01:09:24.520I'm just not sure what kind of kind of form that would take.
01:09:31.380That sounds like a very strange version of Christianity, but I'm open to talking with just about anybody and seeing where commonalities lie.
01:10:09.120um charles asks how do i feel the afa compares with native american tribal organizations
01:10:16.960It's a broad question. I'm not sure in what aspect. I think that first, it's not monolithic. Tribal organizations in North America are very, very different depending on what part of the continent they're in and what their specific traditions are.
01:10:43.100um i think there's a lot of things we have in common i think there's respect for ancestry and
01:10:49.940for tradition and history we have in common there's a respect for our folk and our people
01:10:56.320and our nation that we have in common that they have uh you know for theirs as well
01:11:01.040um i think in a lot of ways their veneration and their appreciation of the natural world
01:11:08.620coincides with ours i think in a lot of ways it differs as far as their organizational structure
01:11:15.020they're much more fortunate than us in the sense that they have autonomy for lands and in space
01:11:22.460and reservations in alaska they have native corporations that are very successful with
01:11:28.380payouts from the government so they're an entirely different reality that way but i think the core
01:11:33.580principles about them being an indigenous faith overlap with us in a lot of ways
01:11:45.100upcoming food drives there's always food drives we distribute food from each of our three hoffs
01:11:50.380every single month so if you want to get involved in that um we have odenshoff in brownsville
01:11:57.980california we have thorshoff in linden north carolina and baldershoff in murdoch minnesota
01:12:04.140and they are involved in distribution of food every single month
01:12:10.620how do i spell my email m-a-t-t-f-l-a-v-e-l at runestone r-u-n-e-s-t-o-n-e dot o-r-g
01:12:23.980um in a way kindreds are like tribes i'd say more they're like families i'd say a tribe
01:12:40.020tends to be a much bigger unit more like the afa as a whole i think the closest thing that
01:12:45.340kindreds are similar to uh is congregations afa kindreds are local groups of afa worshipers
01:12:52.960but hopefully those kindreds come together into tribes and families and that's the biggest thing
01:13:00.540in the in the time that we're in is considering the entire afa to be our our big tribe our big
01:13:05.780family and building those kind of bonds along those lines i think
01:13:10.000all right talk tonight i really enjoy talking with you guys i hope you guys have an amazing
01:13:37.240Yule. I hope that 2021 has been amazing for you guys. And I hope that 2022 will be even better.
01:13:46.320And I look forward to talking to you guys in January. Hail the gods, hail the folk, hail the AFA.