Frivolous Fridays are the Orbit bloggers’ excuse to post about fun things we care about that may not have serious implications for atheism or social justice. Any day is a good day to write about whatever the heck we’re interested in (hey, we put “culture” in our tagline for a reason), but we sometimes have a hard time giving ourselves permission to do that. This is our way of encouraging each other to take a break from serious topics and have some fun. Enjoy!
You know the bit in Peter Pan, where Peter explains that every time a child says, “I don’t believe in fairies,” somewhere a fairy falls down dead? I read this when I was a kid. And afterwards, I started to go around saying under my breath, “I don’t believe in fairies, I don’t believe in fairies, I don’t believe in fairies,” and imagining fairies dropping like flies, one by one, all over the world.
I’m not sure why I did this. I didn’t actually believe in fairies, and I certainly didn’t think I could murder them from a distance by saying words out loud. In retrospect, I think I was annoyed by how saccharine and manipulative it was. It was like, “You’re going to guilt-trip me into believing something I have no reason to believe, by telling me my non-belief will destroy it? Yeah, screw you.” But maybe I’m reading too much into this, and putting too much of my adult interpretation on it. Maybe I was just a contrarian little fuck with a thirst for power. Strike that. I know I was.
I was thinking about this because of Tony Thompson’s HI-FREAKING-LARIOUS piece about the Catholic cardinal, who apparently thinks that the acceptance of TBLG people is killing God. No, really. Tony is very excite about his newly-discovered superpower, as well he should be. And it occurred to me: This is totally like the Peter Pan thing. Every time a queer person is happy and accepted, a little bit of God dies.
Let’s all say it together: “TBLG people are awesome. TBLG people are awesome. TBLG people are awesome.” And we can imagine a little bit more of God dying, every time.
If you read Peter Pan, did you have any reaction to the “I don’t believe in fairies” bit? Or was that just me, being contrarian and power-hungry and weirdly macabre?
I’m pretty sure I interpreted that as just an element of Barrie’s fantasy world, not any kind of statement about actual reality.
I’m picturing atheists across the globe saying “TBLG people are awesome” and gods from various pantheons come tumbling down to earth dead.
Tony’s article was fantastic.
By the way, your blog post today was the first time I read the acronym TBLG. I think it’s a good idea for these times, to highlight that being trans does not prevent one from being first among equals.
I thought it was so appropriate that I put it up on urbandictionary.com and I hope people can support my definition, or offer a better one.
Thanks for helping to open my eyes, as you and all the-orbit bloggers often do.
One of my favorite parts of the 2003 movie version of Peter Pan — for my money, the best movie adaptation there’s been — is when Jason Isaac’s Captain Hook specifically uses “I don’t believe in fairies” as a weapon.
I did, and then I felt guilty so I clapped afterwards.