Satanic Panic: SAPS Edition

As a moral panic
Satanic Ritual Abuse is considered a moral panic[128] and compared to the blood libel and witch-hunts of historical Europe,[1][6][57][129][130] and McCarthyism in the United States during the 20th century.[131][132][133][134] Stanley Cohen, who originated the term "moral panic," called the episode "one of the purest cases of moral panic."[135] The initial investigations of SRA were performed by anthropologists and sociologists, who failed to find evidence of SRA actually occurring; instead they concluded that SRA was a result of rumors and folk legends that were spread by "media hype, Christian fundamentalism, mental health and law enforcement professionals and child abuse advocates."[81] Sociologists and journalists noted the vigorous nature with which some evangelical activists and groups were using claims of SRA to further their religious and political goals.[134] Other commentators suggested that the entire phenomenon may be evidence of a moral panic over Satanism and child abuse.[136] Skeptical explanations for allegations of SRA have included an attempt by "radical feminists" to undermine the nuclear family,[137] a backlash against working women,[131] homophobic attacks on gay childcare workers,[138] a universal need to believe in evil,[7] fear of alternative spiritualities,[87] "end of the millennium" anxieties,[139] or a transient form of temporal lobe epilepsy.[140]
Jeffrey Victor says that in the United States the groups most likely to believe rumours of SRA are rural, poorly educated religiously conservative Protestant blue-collar families with an unquestioning belief in American values who feel significant anxieties over job loss, economic decline and family disintegration. Victor considers rumours of SRA a symptom of a moral crisis and form of scapegoating for economic and social ills.[141]
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I'd say that Mr Jeffrey Victor hit the nail on the head.
 
Alan said:
I recall plenty of it in the 90s. Bored kids doing stupid things
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Bored kids will always do stupid things. What makes stuff like this so infuriating is that their parents, their teachers, their peers all lend credence to it: the belief that stuff like "Satan," "demons," and "magic" exists.

And then act surprised when curious kids who naturally get to the point of rebellion, do.

And I'm not talking about nutjobs who slaughter animals, children or whatever either. Anyone capable of that is well and truly beyond help to begin with.
 
I think this is pretty much verbatim from the 80's as who calls landlines anymore asking for someone am I right ;-). But reading it over it does remind me a lot of what the Religious teachers were punting in the late 80s and early 90s.
 
A few years ago , when I was on the SAPRA (South African Pagan Rights Ass) exco, I got the SAPS to remove this steaming pile of unconstitutional horse puckey from their site.
I see it's back due to brainless demand.
 
That list was used on me in the early 90's.

When I was sitting in the guidance councillor's office and she was scrutinising me with the list in hand and my books on her table (AD&D Wizard guide, Carrie and a couple of Lone wolf adventures I had at school for some reason).

She said "You have every sign of being a satanist" So I said " Does this mean I have to go out and find a cult?" I meant coven, but it had the same affect. Parent called in, bla bla.
Didnt even do anything to help my cred at school :(

Edit: She kept paging through the wizard guide hoping to find something occult. Instead it was all class and race stats, thaco charts and dice rolling, lol. the disappointment was almost palatable.
 
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I dealt with the same thing as madman, and you're at the mercy of these religious nutcases and the is no room for being different. I remember all the **** i used to get from the school RE teacher because of the shows i watched, the games i played, etc. nobody helped me with any of my real issues.

i grew up hating religion when i became an atheist, but after years i realised it wasn't the religion that was the problem, it was the people who used it as a crutch and an identity.

i look forward to the day that my son gets called in by a religious teacher so i can tell them exactly what i think of them
 
STS said:
I dealt with the same thing as madman, and you're at the mercy of these religious nutcases and the is no room for being different. I remember all the **** i used to get from the school RE teacher because of the shows i watched, the games i played, etc. nobody helped me with any of my real issues.

i grew up hating religion when i became an atheist, but after years i realised it wasn't the religion that was the problem, it was the people who used it as a crutch and an identity.

i look forward to the day that my son gets called in by a religious teacher so i can tell them exactly what i think of them
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I used to love messing with the RE/RI teachers, we had one who was literally a reformed drug addict who lived in the hills as a hippy for many years, she even still lived in a commune at the church yet was allowed to interact with children and shape their minds. So bad was her brainwashing she believed the song by Twisted Sister - We are not going to take it as satanic and that board games were a gateway to evil. I was asked to leave her class many a times.
There was one decent teacher back when I was in Standard 6 who you could actually debate with over religion, all types of it and the occult etc... He was pretty cool but he was incredibly rare as a RI teacher as they came.
 
Reminds me of those people who used to come to our school.

They would start off by playing an ac/dc intro.

"This is the sound of hell`s bells!"

"Nirvana made a person want to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but the police talked him down, but then a demon entered him and threw him off, it was not a jump! he flew 5 meters!, I saw it!"
 
STS said:
I dealt with the same thing as madman, and you're at the mercy of these religious nutcases and the is no room for being different. I remember all the **** i used to get from the school RE teacher because of the shows i watched, the games i played, etc. nobody helped me with any of my real issues.
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This bit just struck a nerve with me...

I went to a heavily Christian-orientated school. They had "CIA" every Thursday (Christians In Action or some **** like that). I was different and I knew that. I fell in love with a guy who essentially outed me. I rebelled in my own way and ended up falling for Wicca/Paganism at the time.

What I remember about my time in high-school is a missionary guidance councillor from Nutsville tried an "exorcism" on me after she found out at some "let's hold hands and tell everyone our innermost vulnerabilities" she'd organised and had me "let Jesus Christ into [my] heart." What could I do? She was crying and was hysterical.

Annnyway...

Nobody gave me the time of day. Everyone assumed I was "****ed up" or a "trouble-maker." Yet I never did a single "bad" thing in my life (at least not intentionally or that I know of). I never got drunk, I never did drugs--I was everything the damn religious nutjobs wanted their "flock" to be. Except for one thing: I was gay and I didn't call myself "a Christian."

I was suicidal, I was depressed, I felt like I had no friends and the two or three I did have never really cared about me--it was all about who was the most ****ed up. Turned out, it wasn't me.

In my entire high-school life, there was one person who actually bothered to ask me how I really am, a man named Richard Robinson--our grade 8/9 (I can't recall) English teacher at the time. A man who, I think, was pretty ostracised as well...

He spoke to my parents on my behalf, tried to get them to understand. He took an interest. Later that year he was in an accident and left the school and I've never heard from him again. Rumour, however, had it that he committed suicide, but I don't know with any absolute certainty. I do hope not, though.

A year or so later I was called into the principal's office and asked quite simply, with the expression of something foul under his nose, "How are you?" I said, "I'm fine, thank you." He said, "Okay," and that was it.

All anyone in that crazy high-school cared about was whether or not I was a Christian. My real issues, what I was going through, **** that. Not what mattered to them.

I got through the toughest time in my life by speaking to people online and having people I didn't know from a bar of soap just telling me that I should hold on.

This sort of ridiculous Satanic Panic nonsense rekindles that frustration in me because I know that in small towns where this kind of lunacy is given the time of day, many people who are "different" are instantly dismissed as "Satanists" instead of given the attention and care that they need.
 
Remembering the days of hidden satanic messages when songs were played in reverse ..
 
Lycanthrope said:
This bit just struck a nerve with me...

I went to a heavily Christian-orientated school. They had "CIA" every Thursday (Christians In Action or some **** like that). I was different and I knew that. I fell in love with a guy who essentially outed me. I rebelled in my own way and ended up falling for Wicca/Paganism at the time.

What I remember about my time in high-school is a missionary guidance councillor from Nutsville tried an "exorcism" on me after she found out at some "let's hold hands and tell everyone our innermost vulnerabilities" she'd organised and had me "let Jesus Christ into [my] heart." What could I do? She was crying and was hysterical.

Annnyway...

Nobody gave me the time of day. Everyone assumed I was "****ed up" or a "trouble-maker." Yet I never did a single "bad" thing in my life (at least not intentionally or that I know of). I never got drunk, I never did drugs--I was everything the damn religious nutjobs wanted their "flock" to be. Except for one thing: I was gay and I didn't call myself "a Christian."

I was suicidal, I was depressed, I felt like I had no friends and the two or three I did have never really cared about me--it was all about who was the most ****ed up. Turned out, it wasn't me.

In my entire high-school life, there was one person who actually bothered to ask me how I really am, a man named Richard Robinson--our grade 8/9 (I can't recall) English teacher at the time. A man who, I think, was pretty ostracised as well...

He spoke to my parents on my behalf, tried to get them to understand. He took an interest. Later that year he was in an accident and left the school and I've never heard from him again. Rumour, however, had it that he committed suicide, but I don't know with any absolute certainty. I do hope not, though.

A year or so later I was called into the principal's office and asked quite simply, with the expression of something foul under his nose, "How are you?" I said, "I'm fine, thank you." He said, "Okay," and that was it.

All anyone in that crazy high-school cared about was whether or not I was a Christian. My real issues, what I was going through, **** that. Not what mattered to them.

I got through the toughest time in my life by speaking to people online and having people I didn't know from a bar of soap just telling me that I should hold on.

This sort of ridiculous Satanic Panic nonsense rekindles that frustration in me because I know that in small towns where this kind of lunacy is given the time of day, many people who are "different" are instantly dismissed as "Satanists" instead of given the attention and care that they need.
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Yikes, quite a story. :(

Glad you came out okay, though.

Any chance you could expand a bit on your experience with Wicca/Paganism?
 
Lycanthrope said:
This bit just struck a nerve with me...

I went to a heavily Christian-orientated school. They had "CIA" every Thursday (Christians In Action or some **** like that). I was different and I knew that. I fell in love with a guy who essentially outed me. I rebelled in my own way and ended up falling for Wicca/Paganism at the time.

What I remember about my time in high-school is a missionary guidance councillor from Nutsville tried an "exorcism" on me after she found out at some "let's hold hands and tell everyone our innermost vulnerabilities" she'd organised and had me "let Jesus Christ into [my] heart." What could I do? She was crying and was hysterical.

Annnyway...

Nobody gave me the time of day. Everyone assumed I was "****ed up" or a "trouble-maker." Yet I never did a single "bad" thing in my life (at least not intentionally or that I know of). I never got drunk, I never did drugs--I was everything the damn religious nutjobs wanted their "flock" to be. Except for one thing: I was gay and I didn't call myself "a Christian."
Click to expand...

i can relate too, when i grew off of christianity, i wasn't a complete atheist yet, so i still tried paganism and buddhism, people sometimes forget that it takes a while to get all of the propaganda out of your head. anyway i was bullied, i had virtually no friends, my mother's guilt trips made me extremely anti-social and my only enjoyment was video games and porn.

i guess these things are good to experience tho, i still think of my parents as naive as there is a lot they do not know and that i haven't told them despite them loving me, and i feel like i'll b a better prepared dad for whatever my son is going to experience
 
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