satanic sacrafice etc. - does it even exist

[pounce]

You are right: down here we have never had any major wave of reports of satanic abuse.
I still don't see how the case you cite can be seen as suggesting a widespread and organised effort from satanic groups. I could find no such implication in the report.
But what do you think of the idea that it is the prosecution that should be denying a satanic connection, and the defence that should be pushing it?

you are misunderstanding me, so i'll make one more effort to clarify myself here and then move on.

satanic cult sacrifice is a one of the classic scares. it is a popular myth that pops in and out of the media. it's been a while since it was in full form, but this is exactly the kind of report you would get that would fuel the fire. and then, once a report of two like this appear, similar reports start showing up. so you end up with a short wave of reports, each bit of media hysteria feeding the other reports.

in some cases, there is some single tragic murder. in other cases, it stuff like dead animals or other things misrepresented as being evidence of satanic ritual abuse.

my contention is that there is no such thing, and that these scares tell us more about the media and public then they tell us about satanic sacrifice. in the particular case that i cited, i think it's weird that the paper is hyping up a satanic connection when the guy denies it. i doubt any evidence would support the idea that the murder which was committed had anything to do with satanic ritual murder. what struck me as how readily the media chose to report it in that way. it seems to be a distortion of reality for the sake of hype. that lust for higher ratings and selling more papers must share a lot of the blame for satanic ritual killings getting so much attention.

and i agree, i thought satanic ritual killings as some sort of organized threat to society was disproven a long long time ago, so i think it's odd to see those things in the paper again. the single report i cited wasn't about widespread satanic abuse, but by not calling it a murder and instead calling it a ritual killing from a satanist they are inferring that there is still a threat out there to society. THAT is the difference as far as i am concerned.

 

[godless dave]

It always struck me as odd that anyone took these ritual abuse claims seriously. Just going from memory here, but I seem to recall children telling of the sacrifice of elephants and giraffes, as well as being defacated upon by a hippopotamus. In some cases, like Martinsville, everyone in town was accused of molestation. Why wasn't anyone willing to say that these accusations were ridiculous at the time?

Because the accusations involved children as victims.

You do care about children, don't you?

 

[JoeTheJuggler]

Because the accusations involved children as victims.

You do care about children, don't you?

Sounds like Mrs. Lovejoy on The Simpsons.