[UA] 10 Most American Things

[S McDaniel]

Totally.  Chick Publications also published a book
called He Came to Set the Captives Free which was a
longform tract, essentially, about a woman who was in
one of these baby murdering cults.  Good times.  These
beliefs circulated like crazy (no pun...at all) in my
self-chosen fundamentalist-bent church in high school,
and even carried some weight in the relatively
moderate/sane church congregations.  

This sort of scenario was featured in one of my
favorite X-Files episodes, "Die Hand Die Verletzt"
(Season 2) - which has some lovely twists, and keeps
you guessing what's real, if there's anything
supernatural going on or just superstition, and the
power of suggestion.


--- Rev Kev <kelmore at rocketmail.com> wrote:

> "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>
_______________________________________________
> UA mailing list
> UA at lists.unknown-armies.com
> http://lists.unknown-armies.com/mailman/listinfo/ua
> 


"Abraham Lincoln once said that 'If you're a racist, I will attack you with the North,' and these are the principles I carry with me in the workplace.   
-Michael Scott


 
____________________________________________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.
http://new.mail.yahoo.com