Date: Mon 13 Nov 89 15:17:34
From: Jack Ofshadows (on 1:161/93.0)
To: Aga Windwalker
Subj: Animal Destruction and the Rise Of Satanic Activity
AW> (I should say those who refer to themselves as Satanic) have a
AW> tendency to maim and destroy animals, and to the belief of
AW> the police, one or two people. Allow me to state then that the
AW> "Satanists" in my town may not be the same as the others throughout
AW> the nation, but if that is the case, someone better tell these kids
AW> exactly what they are, because they are trashing someone's religion.
Mythology abounds in childhood. Without experince, everything becomes hearsay,
rumor, and Myth. Experience of children shows me that they get tired of being
placated and lied to by adults; become convinced that they have been lied to
all their lives; rebel against all information given by their parents; test
every premis; do every "don't;" and finally return to the dictums of their
parents once again, but with understanding and experience replacing obedience.
One importand area of testing, is Good and Evil. Is Good really good? Is Evil
really that bad?
When confronted by the evidence of Animal Mutilations and Ritual, the
tendancy of untrained people is to assume this is evidence of Satanic Rites. I
contend that what is really happening is adolescent experimentation with Good
and Evil. Good is pretending that Jack In The Box chicken sandwiches come from
a factory, Bad is killing a chicken yourself. Good is being told what to do
and liking to do it-be a good slave; Bad is questing for your own answers and
gaining power over your own destiny, and your environment. Good is misty and
otherworldly; Bad is sensuous,earthy,and rich in the experinces of this
physical world. In the final analysis, Good is obedience and Bad is self
determination.
One of the criticisms of Rat studies in Experimental Psychology is that
these rats studied are insane from living in an artificial world. Lab animals
live in steel and glass environments lit by florescent lights. They are kept
seperated from other rats, and lack any experience of the world outside the
lab. Except in rare studies, they never are allowed to fuck or fight, and are
in every way atypical of wild rats. Lab rats are dependant, "otherworldly"-
concerned with artifical stresses, celibate, isolated, and very insane. The
results of Rat studies, which abound in Behaviorist studies, have been called
into question by Experimental Psychologists, and animal rights activists
because these animals live in an "unreal" world.
What do moma rats say to their young? If parent rats did pass on their
ideas on survival, what would be the quality of this legacy? Would it stress
self direction and personal power? Or would it be platitudes and myths about
giants who give food and pain? How useful would such advice be?
I assure you that if these questions occure to me, they also occure to
children. In a world of impersonal multinational corporations whose private
agendas manifest as the 6 O'clock news, how much experince in self direction
is the average American allowed? Will working hard, saving your money,
inventing a better mousetrap, and proclaiming the rights of the individual
ever give real self determination, or allow you to make important decisions of
a world wide affect? These vast impersonal forces make lab animals of us all.
How can we know freedom and personal worth, if we never venture out of our
cages? Is phreaking the phone company really wrong when the phone company
routinly destroys the lives of employees who have 18 years of service and are
layed off or fired to save the company their retirement benifits, as happened
to one of my uncles? Is it wrong to say no to authority, when laws destroying
constitutional rights are being passed every day? It wrong to cheat on Income
Taxes when so much of the tax money goes to defence contractors who cheat the
government out of millions of dollars with the government's help? The whole
concept of Good and Evil is so compartmentalized, situation dependant, skewed
by powerful self interest, and unclear, that nobody can be blamed for taking
the search for proof into their own hands.
Animal mutilations, "satanic" masses, flag burning, and other violations
of Taboo, are the actions of those individuals who are experimenting with Good
and Evil to determine whether the social rules have any basis other than the
need to control. They are a temporary manifestation in each individual's life,
and except for a few psychopaths, are no more indicative of any rise in
organized satanism than backtalking to one's parents is proof of demonic
possession-as was once believed.
---
* Origin: ThelemaNet San Francisco * (415) 751-9308 (Opus 1:161/93)