The Ghosts of Moral Panics Past

Historical document of the day: an excerpt from the 1994 video Law Enforcement Guide to Satanic Cults.

Via Laughing Squid. If you want to learn more about the Satan scare of the 1980s and early '90s, this overview from The Skeptic's Dictionary is a good place to start. So is this classic debunking by Debbie Nathan, who later wrote a book on the subject.

Comments

[Fry]

Via Laughing Squid.

[squint]

[Fist of Etiquette]

Interesting trivia note: Those are the same Roman columns Senator Obama used in his acceptance speech extravaganza at the Democratic National Convention.

[Anal Vanneman]

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

[hmm]

I want to do one of these videos when I get all old and gray. So I can paw some hot young chick and video it.

[Fist of Etiquette]

You'll need the shirt.

[hmm]

I have a leisure suit from a Halloween costume. Will that do?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Yeah, a "Halloween costume".

I don't know, that shirt is pretty awesome. It's like fine art and silk garment all rolled into one open-button masterpiece.

[BakedPenguin]

I've said this previously, but considering what happened with Catholic priests, it's funny that so many people got worked up about Satanic sexual abuse.

[Aresen]

Not to mention Jimmy Swaggart et al.

[crimethink]

The vast majority of the accusations against priests have been for groping and other types of "inappropriate touching", not full-blown sexual abuse of the sort Satanists were accused of. Obviously what those priests did was wrong and should be illegal, but let's not lose perspective.

[Isaac Bartram]

Except, the priests who were accused of molestation really did everything they were accused of, while the Satanists didn't do any of what they were accused of.

[crimethink]

Also the molesters with type A blood really did what they were accused of. So?

The Baked One's implication was that molestation was widespread among priests.

[Warty]

The only thing I love more than Satanic tits is Satanic metal.

[BakedPenguin]

Why not Satanic metal about screwing?

[Warty]

Good point. Today's Satan bands don't sing about fucking enough, do they?

[BakedPenguin]

No. Even by the early 90's, it was all about (anti)religious stuff. If I wanted that shit, I could have stayed a Christian, or joined a Satanic church. Murderface was right - it's all the same boring shit.

[Warty]

Even as our riffage and growlage technology has improved, we have allowed our subject matter to stagnate. We must improve, gentlemen.

[dbcooper]

I salute that excellent post. 🙂

[BakedPenguin]

Or at least Satanic metal about a girl.

[Episiarch]

I...sell..shoes! THANK YOU SATAN!

(I think this is the right clip, but it's hard to verify as I have no audio at work.)

[BakedPenguin]

Yes, it is. We are well stocked in the video of cowards.

[Brian Sorgatz]

Speaking of "Thank you, Satan," Barack Obama has been proven to worship Satan through analysis of his "Yes, we can" speech in reverse.

[Citizen Nothing]

"Thank you Satan, and hear from the grandma."
That's awesome.

[J sub D]

http://willemaus.files.wordpre.....nicrs1.jpg

[J sub D]

Oops! I SugarFreed the link.

[Brian Sorgatz]

Sgt. Satan's Lonely Hearts Club Band?

[Anal Vanneman]

Rolling Stones: On Satanic Majesty's Service.

Back when they had Brian Jones (the band's only real musical talent) playing lead.

[seanrude]

Right, because Beggars Banquet*, Let It Bleed, Sticky FIngers, get Yer Ya Ya's Out and Exiles on Main Street, all recorded without Brian Jones, are really shitty albums.

*Jones is credited on Beggar's Banquet but he didn't do anything substantive

[aix42]

I love the checkered flag bikini, very hot. Maybe she was just a Slayer groupie that loved NASCAR.....

[ClubMedSux]

I just assumed that Satanists had a thing for Two-Tone girls... After all, that video was shot right at the peak of ska's third wave.

[Aresen]

I call shenanigans.

Those irregular pentacles wouldn't confine any demon below level 12, let alone Satan.

[mrk]

How creepy is it that they used a live model in a bikini to film this?

[H man]

So what does Cristine O'Donnell have to say about this. She would have been practicing wicca in the 80's. D & D satanic scare.

[Dylboz]

YouTube fail.

[Old Bull Lee]

Shemhamforash!

SO IT IS DONE.

[Bingo]

It sure seems that the effectiveness of moral busybodies on the national stage neatly coincides with universal suffrage...

[zoltan]

Progressivism predates universal suffrage. I would say beta male-ism is the reason for moral busybodies.

[JW]

"Ah, that's great, I told you you'd look amazing in that bikini, didn't I? No, no sweetie, just playing dead won't do it, unless you think you're some great fucking actress like Elizabeth Perkins. No, we really do need to drug you for the video. I promise we'll wake you up as soon as we're done with you."

[AlmightyJB]

Kudos on their selection of a model, very nice. But the dude looks like the BTK killer.

[new age pedant]

Actually, the two upper points on the pentagram do not represents goats horns. The pentagram is an inverted pentacle. The pentacle represents the human body, with the single upward point representing the head and the two downward points representing the legs. In this state, it symbolizes a person whose mind is properly in control of base urges. Inverted, the genitals are above the head, and it represents a person who is controlled by base urges - hence the association with "evil."

[OO======D]

The fuck you say?

[Joshua]

As with all symbols, it means whatever the fuck I think it means.

[James Solbakken]

The fundamental error people make when ridiculing "Satanic" crime is thinking that since there is no "Satan," the whole thing is bullshit. Seems to me it's all part of the insanity, whether there really is a "Satan" or not. Have crimes been committed? Are there dead bodies laying about that show signs of death by foul play with accompanying symbology associated with "Satanism?"
If so, you might have leads to be investigated.
We know there are people that like to play "devil worshipper," why the assumption that it cannot get out of hand? Frankly, the scoffers look stupider than the concerned but gullible panickers.