Re: The Importance of Truth (major essay from me)

Ok, I will admit, I didn't read the whole thing. I got about halfway and then skimmed through the rest. But from what I can tell it is a well thought out essay.

Thank you for reading as much as you did, though as I said in my disclaimer, please don't feel the need to read the entire post in just one sitting. And feel free to come back later, when you have the time, and read the rest of the post that you only skimmed through this time, because skimming is not a good way to pick up info in a coherent manner.

However I am still on the fence about the satanic ritual abuse issue and whether there is any validity to it all.

Other than a still ambiguous case I heard about that occurred in Greece, there has never been a shred of evidence discovered that there was ever any valdity to the existence of satanic cults that sacrificed human victims and animals and forced kids into horrific forms of sexual abuse. I invite you to read Debbie Nathan's book Satan's Silence for a detailed overview of this particularly frightful urban legend.

I have read about the McMartin case and in that case I think the whole cult aspect was fabricated. But in other cases, I am not so sure. For example, the book "The Franklin Cover-up: Child Abuse, Satanism, and Murder in Nebraska" details some abuse that is extremely horrific.

All claims that alleged a satanic cult was involved in victimizing kids in honor of "Satan" included tales of horrific and utterly outrageous abuse, including the McMartin case.

The book is mainly about a child sex ring in the 80's that allegedly catered to the rich and politically affluent.

Though I am not one to defend the rich and I am well aware of the decadance they are capable of sinking to, I am obligated by my commitment to the truth to call a spade a spade and mention that the above sounds like an urban legend, with the claim that an organized satanic cult that has billions of dollars at their disposal making a good excuse for explaining why this alleged cult was never stopped and why it always stayed one step ahead of the police. Hasn't the same thing been said of the MAA community in the media, with the frequent claims that our community, particularly those allegedly engaged in producing child porn, consist of an extremely well organized international cabal that has billions of dollars at its disposal and routinely kidnaps as many as several million kids per year and forces them into sexual slavery and the production of CP where brutally sadistic sexual acts are supposedly filmed (and which only LEOs and a few judges here and there ever actually see)? And this allegedly explains why this allegation is never proven, because even though individual members of this supposed cabal are arrested periodically, the entire organization is far too wealthy, powerful, and stealthy to be eliminated entirely, hence the LEAs need more and more funds from the government and the creation of more and more task forces designed to combat this mythical menace. And so on and son. People in this community should know better than to put any credence into such claims and though all reported crimes should indeed be investigated in case someone really is in danger of harm, if no evidence is discovered to substantiate the claims, and this pattern occurs over and over again, then the public should be sceptical about the claims. But as we all know, if even totally outlandish and entirely unsubstantiated claims are made often enough, and done in a way that appeals to people's emotions rather than their sense of reason and logic (as is especially the case when such claims are said to be a threat to children), people officially become "sheeple" and will believe just about anything.

However there was supposedly a link to satanic cults. In one instance it described a kiddie porn snuff film that was made.

The snuff film hysteria that erupted during the 80s, which was believed to be fact by many people courtesy of both unscrupulously careerist LEOs and an irresonsible media that thrives on sensationalism over and above a commitment to report the truth, has never produced a single shred of evidence to substantiate it, and is today rightfully considered an urban legend. Though it's not unreasonable to believe that a few actual snuff films were made here and there, it was never a common thing, nor was there a whole profitable underground industry devoted to producing such films. If the snuff film fiasco had been claimed to target children to a large extent (which it wasn't), then there is a good chance many more people would still believe it and be utterly panic-stricken about the claims, and LEAs would still be demanding more and more funds to combat this mythical menace while misleading the public into believing that the LEOs involved in the cases had seen the films (while not allowing anyone else outside of the court system to see them, including journalists who may have been justifiably sceptical about the allegations and wanted to substantiate the claims).

The victim, then an early teen male, was forced to have anal sex with a ~5yo boy which they then shot in the head but made him continue having sex with. After the filming was done then some men in black robes took the body to use in some satanic ritual. That is how the story goes anyway. Keep in mind when the "kid" told this story he was in his late-teens/early-20's by that time. Not the age that would be easily coerced into telling a lie. I just find it hard to believe that someone would make something like that up. What is there to gain from making allegations like that?

What did Michelle Smith have to gain from making up the lies that were shamelessly recorded by her therapist (and later husband) in the 1980 book Michelle Remembers that really elevated the whole satanic ritual abuse thing into a full blown hysteria? Other than the fact that Michelle was mentally ill, and her therapist exploited this by putting her under hypnosis and asked her highly leading questions which "uncovered" allegedly buried memories of brutal sexual abuse as a child at the hands of her mother's satanic cult, which included all sorts of outlandish and utterly bizarre claims that included murders, NONE of which had the slightest bit of evidence to back it up even after a thorough investigation. This didn't stop many people in the legal system, the mental health industry, or the media from believing it wholeheartedly, of course. Following Smith's famous story, what did the many other people who claimed to have been victimized as a teen or child by satanic cults have to gain by telling these stories, none of which had any evidence to back up such serious allegations even after investigations were conducted, and conducted they were considering how many LEOs were scrambling all over themselves to locate and arrest these alleged cult members and to get more funds from the government to create new task forces to combat this horrid menace? Are you perhaps just a little more sceptical and less "on the fence" now after considering all of the above, Mr. DOB? I once again recommend that you read Satan's Silence.

Even if the media blew the thing out of proportion I still feel like there may be some truth to it all.

Mmm-hmmm. Evidence, please?

I'm not saying its true, but maybe it warrants further investigation.

I wouldn't be against further investigation, but I highly doubt the case you mentioned wasn't thoroughly investigated already, and the entire satanic ritual abuse hysteria was investigated to a huge extent by LEOs and media moguls, all of whom had good career-oriented reasons to keep the hysteria going despite not finding a single bit of evidence to provide to the public. Debbie Nathan and the lawyer who she co-wrote her book with did a thorough investigation of their own, and they uncovered absolutely nada to back up the numerous claims they heard. The few people who disagree with them to this day have not proved them wrong in any way. If you still believe there must be some truth to those stories simply because so many people said they were, even in the total absence of any evidence being uncovered, then perhaps you should do an investigation of your own. If you did, maybe you can prove that there is indeed a nefarious worldwide satanic cult full of wealthy individuals who are still going on their merry way victimizing and murdering kids right under the noses of society. Maybe you will find out that Debbie Nathan was part of this cult and thus had a personal reason to decieve the public into believing the whole thing wasn't true. Maybe you will even find out that GC and the other MAA boards have been secretly part of an international cabal that kidnaps millions of kids into sexual slavery and into the production of sadistic CP films, and that the moderators of GC are all multi-millionaires involved in this horrible international cabal that is too well organized and powerful for the cops to stop. Maybe you will even find out that there really is a fat guy with a white beard who travels all over the world on one particular night of the year and goes down people's chimney's to deliver gifts to kids who were on his "nice" list...