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LA Times Blames Trump for Rise in Ominous Religion

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The words “President Trump” have caused many a liberal to turn toward various coping mechanisms. Some have gone for adult coloring books and safe spaces. Some, no doubt, have found comfort in the bottle. Some, believe it or not, have even found solace in religion.

It’s not Christianity, Judaism or Islam we’re talking about here, however. Nosiree Bob. None of that stuff for the modern, liberated progressive. For them, there’s only one deity who can help properly express their angst in these doom-laden times for the left: Mephistopheles.

That’s at least the dubious conclusion of a Jan. 5 Los Angeles Times piece that attempts (with exceptionally varying levels of success) to connect a rise in Satanism in Southern California to the election of Donald Trump.

“In November, in the candlelit basement of a house just above the Silver Lake Reservoir, Alexandra James walked over to an altar where her husband, Zachary, waited near a bleached human skull, teeth locked in eternal rictus,” the piece from LA Times writer August Brown began. “From the altar, she lifted a sword and drew points across his chest while a circle of onlookers watched solemnly (well, a few giggled too). An organist played eerie minor key chords and Alexandra turned to face the group.”

“’On this altar we consecrate swords to direct the fire of our unholy will,’ she said. ‘A human skull, symbol of death. The great mother Lilith created us all, and will destroy us all.’

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“‘Hail Satan! Hail Satan! Hail Satan!’ The group chanted back.”

I remember Marilyn Manson scare-pieces from the 1990s that had less tawdry intros than that. According to Brown, however, this was just a house party hosted by the Jameses for a bunch of friends involved “with ritual magic.” (Man, even Satanism has gone PC these days.)

However, pitching a piece on a Satanic house party probably isn’t likely to garner much interest from your editor, particularly in a city where residents like Charlie Sheen and Miley Cyrus barely induce an eyebrow to raise.

So, how to make it work? Throw the president into the witches’ brew: Brown describes party attendees as a “heterodox generation of new self-described Satanists who are upending old ‘Rosemary’s Baby‘ and ‘Helter Skelter’ stereotypes in service of radical politics, feminist aesthetics and community unity in the divisive time of Trump.”

Do you think Satan is a Democrat?

“Given the never-ending chaos in American life, when nuclear war seems to many to be just one juvenile presidential tweet away, a coterie of artists are rediscovering Satanism’s imagery and rituals in a city with a long, rich and weird history of contrarian philosophies,” Brown continues. “Traditionalists might debate if any of it is properly ‘Satanic’ at all; this new take is much more feminist than nihilist, flexibly self-aware and better versed in internet culture than orthodox theology.”

As a Satanic traditionalist, I’m personally offended that “this new take” doesn’t have anything to do with orthodox demonic theology like heavy metal music, which was the culprit the last time the media stretched a cultural trend to associate it with Beelzebub for the sake of readership.

Satan isn’t just going to save us from Trump, though. In fact, some of the satanists posited that the only way to save the country from the alt-right is to turn toward the dark lord.

“If you don’t give people some sense of magic and community, you get the Proud Boys,” Alexandra James said, referring to the alt-right fraternal organization founded by Gavin McInnes.

“People like the Proud Boys have their own social clubs, and that’s black magic. Instead of running away from that, we need to find better ways of organizing ourselves,” Zachary James added.

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Oh yes, and did you know Satan is also a feminist ally? If you didn’t, let Anna Biller, “a director whose 2017 film ‘The Love Witch’ beautifully revamped ’70s Technicolor genre films for our era of wry misandry and new social movements,” fill you in on why the Antichrist was #metoo and #timesup before it was #legit.

“What I’m trying to do is to transform the witch from a figure of male fear and fantasy into a figure of female power and sexuality. For some women it represents healing, for others, raw power, for others, the freedom to be unorthodox or to find their own spirituality outside of the family system,” Biller said. “It’s important for women to try to reclaim our images for ourselves.”

Look, I have every bit of sympathy for a writer with a looming deadline and a dearth of ideas. We’ve all been there.

That being said, simply combining yet another Satanism shock story with Trump and undertones of other liberal cultural movements is the height of laziness. Satanism has about as much to do with Donald Trump’s election and/or presidency as it does with butterflies, Bjorn Borg, ice cream, Beanie Babies, LaGuardia Airport, Raffi or the TV show “Get Smart.”

Hillary, on the other hand

H/T TheBlaze

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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