[UA] 10 Most American Things

[Rev Kev]

"Also a note about Conspiracy Theories, many Christians adopt them too especially that old and tired International Satanism."

Wow, that brings back memories, Chris.  

I don't know if it's still as serious as it was in the 80s and early 90s, but the Satanic fear was huge.  As someone who attended an American high school and university during that time, I have some stories about the great Satanic scare.  If you tune in on this vibe, you should be able to put fear in your players as they not only have to tiptoe around the Sleeping Tiger, but they have to look and act normal enough to not trigger any psychopath's fears about Satanism.  

People in the 80s were convinced that Satanists were actively out and about murdering people and animals (and in digging around, this doesn't seem to be unique to America).  I actually knew a satanist while I was in high school, and I learned a lot about the Church of Satan and the Satanic abuse scare.  My senior paper was even about that topic.  Some things I can recall:

In many places, mutilated cats were found in the outskirts of town. It turns out that the cats were not ritually mutilated, but they were killed by coyotes who were displaced by construction (urban sprawl is another item you'll want to look up).  That fact doesn't stop the conspiracy theorist.

One lady claimed to have been part of a cult where members would get pregnant just to have baby sacrifices.  Despite her outrageous claims that they produced and slaughtered 2 million babies a year, people took her testimony seriously.

Richard Ramirez, dubbed the "Night Stalker", was a serial killer who drew a pentagram at one of the murder scenes (possibly more).  This was enough fuel for the media, and he was tied to the Satanic cults.  Where other allegations could not produce a corpse, Ramirez's murders were considered tangible evidence of the scare.


This was a hassle for us students who did not conform to the usual suburban lifestyle.  In high school, the counselors formed "Impact" which served to keep children safe by communicating with parents.  One newsletter warned parents that children are involved in a cult if they engaged in a list of activities (which involved playing D&D, wearing dark make-up, wearing occult jewelry such as ankhs, listening to heavy metal, or practicing Wicca).  Impact had a Q&A session with law enforcement "experts."  I asked how they can group all of Wicca into that category when some groups promote positive values and not child sacrifice.  I received a smokescreen answer of, "White magic leads to black magic."  (A friend of mine joked that Cheerios lead to heroin).  I wasn't called upon for more questions, since I wasn't asking the usual fearful questions of, "What can I do if I find heavy metal in my son's room?"

These experts were big during that time too.  I got to listen to other "experts" in college.  By then, they at least learned a lot and did not blow everything out of too much proportion.  Mostly, it was a warning against joining groups that promise power.  

I don't hear as much about these conspiracies.  You can still see extreme religious intolerance at http://www.chick.com/default.asp.  If you ever want to terrify your players, throw in some wackos who take these tracts seriously.  While the witch hunts of the 80s are dead, some people won't let it go.

Well, that brought back memories.  Talk about tilting at windmills.  You could not use reason to convince people that the satanic accounts were blown way out of proportion.

Useful links: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satanic_ritual_abuse
http://skepdic.com/satanrit.html

Kevin
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