[REVIEW] Satan Wants You
Apr. 2nd, 2005 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFor a paperback published in the mid-1980s on Satanism with Anton LaVey's scowling visage on the cover and a blurb on the back cover that defines Satanism as "the ascendance of Evil over Good, ritual evocation of demons in rooms lit by black candles, sacrifices and sexual orgies, renunciation and denial of God", Arthur Lyons' Satan Wants You (New York: Warner 1989) is actually an intelligent and remarkable sober book on the subject.
After engaging in a survey of Satanism throughout history, Lyons engages in an in-depth examination of late 20th century Satanism, concentrating on LaVey's Church of Satan and its offshoots but touching on other major movements. Lyons makes the point that Satanism has an inherent appeal to people who are radically alienated from society, whether one talks about medieval European peasants hostile to oppressive clerical-aristocratic regimes or highly-educated urban underachievers in complex urban societies. The power of Satanic rhetoric is that it has the ability to transform one's alienation from society into proof of one's superiority to the rest of society, in a manifested desire to overturn the established norms. Or, rather, to pretend to overturn the established norms of society in a way that really doesn't subvert society much but makes the pretended subverters feel good about themselves. Satanism is fundamentally egoistic, a means of self-aggrandizement. It's not a coincidence that organized Satanic movements tend to fragment remarkably quickly and thoroughly.
And, thankfully, Lyons makes the point that given how non-violent Satanic movements break up with alacrity, the oft-mooted organized underground Satanic cults which--in the 1980s--were alleged to be ritually murdering thousands of infants across North America and sexually abusing many other children simply can't exist. Vast conspiracies are fragile as is; vast conspiracies composed of people desperately competing for status within and without the conspiracy tear themselves to shreads.
After engaging in a survey of Satanism throughout history, Lyons engages in an in-depth examination of late 20th century Satanism, concentrating on LaVey's Church of Satan and its offshoots but touching on other major movements. Lyons makes the point that Satanism has an inherent appeal to people who are radically alienated from society, whether one talks about medieval European peasants hostile to oppressive clerical-aristocratic regimes or highly-educated urban underachievers in complex urban societies. The power of Satanic rhetoric is that it has the ability to transform one's alienation from society into proof of one's superiority to the rest of society, in a manifested desire to overturn the established norms. Or, rather, to pretend to overturn the established norms of society in a way that really doesn't subvert society much but makes the pretended subverters feel good about themselves. Satanism is fundamentally egoistic, a means of self-aggrandizement. It's not a coincidence that organized Satanic movements tend to fragment remarkably quickly and thoroughly.
And, thankfully, Lyons makes the point that given how non-violent Satanic movements break up with alacrity, the oft-mooted organized underground Satanic cults which--in the 1980s--were alleged to be ritually murdering thousands of infants across North America and sexually abusing many other children simply can't exist. Vast conspiracies are fragile as is; vast conspiracies composed of people desperately competing for status within and without the conspiracy tear themselves to shreads.
