#satanic panic

[coolmaycroft]

I want to congratulate gen alpha in having their first satanic panic around a popular mascot.

[whgore]

[prokopetz]

It's fascinating how a lot of Evangelical Christian anxiety about Satanism seems to be rooted in the unspoken idea that if the Devil gathers enough worship he'll depose God and become the new God, because that's not the party line in any major religion, but it is how it works in Dungeons & Dragons.

[clandestinewhore]

[fuzzyghost]

[pornochrist]

Satanic Panic

[wilwheaton]

This is both objectively hilarious, and a reminder of how easily stupid people are fooled.

The Satanic Panic was fucking INSANE, y'all. This shit was everywhere, and ya boy was in parochial school at the time, so they REALLY went hard into how serious and deadly this whole thing was.

Meanwhile, little kid Wil was listening to Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, WASP, Maiden, and playing the hell out of D&D and other fantasy tabletop games.

It was my first, and most profound, experience with a large group of people -- my teachers and other authority figures -- being completely consumed by bullshit that I knew was fake. I would watch these breathless news stories and listen to my teachers repeating whatever nonsense they'd been fed at church or on talk radio, and know in my heart and soul that none of it was true, because I listened to the music and played the games and watched the movies, as did all of my friends, and none of us were conjuring black masses (though if we'd had the candles and robes, I'm sure we would have cosplayed it).

The Satanic Panic shaped a lot of my values and convictions. I was in 5th grade when I began to wonder if these teachers and other adults who came to school to lecture us about the dangers of the music and games I already (secretly) loved knew they were lying, or if they were just stupid and easily misled. (I suspect it was a little from column a and a little from column b, as it frequently was with those right wing christian nationalist nutjobs who ran my school).

I remember so clearly when I saw through them all, and realized that all of it was bullshit.

So I guess I have the Satanic Panic to thank for giving me the push I needed to completely reject religion as a fear-based cult built on lies.

I was in 5th grade when I figured that out. It's wild to me that there are full-on adults today who haven't caught up.

[spookshollow]