ENGL/COMM/WRDS: The Rhetoric of Fear » April 25th: The Satanic Panic

April 25th: The Satanic Panic

I should have commented (or almost finished) on your Rhetoric of Fear Analysis Essays (DUE 5/03–one extra day). Please remember to review both the summative comments AND the annotations.

Plan for the Day

  • Madison leads class discussion on The Satanic Panic (PowerPoint)
  • “The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” 1960
  • Any Other Leftover McCarthyism Stuff
  • The Link between Red Scares and the Satanic Panic
  • Yuhas, Alan. “It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic.”
  • 20/20: “The Devil Worshippers” Parts 1, 2, 3
  • Possible Writing Lesson

“The Monsters are Due on Maple Street,” 1960

I’ve got notes written down, but maybe we can check out a few scenes. Did anyone watch the 2003 remake? At this point, you must have plenty to say about fear and conformity and the ear of not conforming!

Linking Red Scares and the Satanic Panic

Although I didn’t assign this article, you may find John Brackett’s “Satan, Subliminals, and Suicide” (full citation below) fascinating. Brackett points out the none other than racist Jesse Helms, who claimed to not want the Federal Government to recognize MLK, Jr. Day as a holiday, amended a bill to release funds for Hurricane Gloria:

No funds appropriated under this act shall be used to grant, maintain, or allow tax exemption to any cult, organization, or other group that has a purpose or that has any interest in the promoting of satanism or witchcraft: provided that for the purposes of this section, “satanism” is defined as the worship of Satan or the powers of evil and “witchcraft” is defined as the use of powers derived from evil spirits, the use of sorcery, or the use of supernatural powers with malicious intent.

HR 3036, 99th Cong., 1st sess., Congressional Record 131, 26 Sept 1985): S 25077–25080, p. 26. (opens on p. 26)

Helms even wrote a letter (17 June 1985) to then Secretary of Treasury James A. Baker, III asking him about tax-exempt status for a particular religious organization, but it’s not clear which one (p. 29). He also wrote to Baker’s predecessor, Don Regan [re-gan], in 1983 about his concerns of the IRS providing tempt-exempt status to satanic cults. Results of Jesse Helms’s NC Senate victories–his 1996 victory is very telling of how right North Carolina had turned. Remember, I’m a rhetorician and not a political scientist, so you have to be in class to understand why the results are significant in the context we’re discussing.

Brackett points out some interesting parallels to the Red Scare:

  • p. 274: Citing Jerome L. Himmelstein’s work–“…the shared ideology of the New Christian Right included (1) the belief in the economic benefits and inevitable prosperity that would result from a market that is free of government interference and regulation; (2) the need for a shared set of traditional values to combat the perceived “moral decay” brought about by secular humanist teachings and liberal government policies; and (3) the need to rid the world of Communism.
    • Also, “New Right identifies the same enemy within each area of concern; economic, social, and national security problems equally are blamed on liberals operating through the federal government.”
    • What parallels does this have with McCarthy?
  • p. 275: “For religiously devout people sympathetic to the political and cultural revolution led by the New Christian Right in the 1980s, the reports of satanic activity would have been understood as another example of how the “evil” influence of secular humanism was contributing to the moral decline of America” (qtd. in Brackett 275)–check out the Purdue OWL for citing indirect sources.

Yuhas, Alan. “It’s Time to Revisit the Satanic Panic.”

This article is a preview for the podcast I’m having you listen to for next week: You’re Wrong About. “The Satanic Panic.” 2 May 2018. WARNING: the podcast references sexual assault. Here are some areas to consider:

  • para. 4: “Ken Lanning, a former F.B.I. agent….’When people get emotionally involved in an issue, common sense and reason go out the window. People believe what they want and need to believe.'”
  • para. 7: “And after decades of denial, the public was starting to confront the problem of sexual abuse, especially involving children.”
  • para. 9: “Sarah Marshall, a host of the history podcast You’re Wrong About. “What readers heard, she said, was, ‘Don’t look in the mirror, the call is not coming from inside the house — the satanists are the problem.'”
    • Think back to our discussions on psychoanalysis and horror. The demon within…
  • para. 12: “Please question your child to see if he or she has been a witness to any crime or if she has been a victim.”
  • para. 14: “therapists…often asking leading and suggestive questions.”
  • para. 18: Anna Merlan–“Very credible-seeming people were saying: ‘Occult ritual abuse is all around you. We’ve seen it and the signs are visible if you know how to look for it.'”
  • Think about the ethos of particular pillars of the community: politicians, preachers, police, etc. How does that help influence these fantastical beliefs?
  • para. 29: Procter & Gamble “The company began a two-decade campaign to defend its name, sending representatives to churches, filing lawsuits, and pursuing court cases as recently as 2007. It also changed its logo.”

In the end, millions spent on useless litigation, and many came forward that they fabricated their stories of ritual abuse. If we have time, we can watch these:

20/20: “The Devil Worshippers,” 16 May 1985 {Parts 1, 2, 3}

Sorry for the spoiler, but this news story was 99% fake news…maybe Trump’s on to something. Here’s a general timeline of the Satanic Panic (aka. Satanic Scare). You’ll notice that 20/20 “journalist” Geraldo Rivera eventually apologized for his fear mongering.

Works Cited

Brackett, John. “Satan, Subliminals, and Suicide: The Formation and Development of an Antirock Discourse in the United States during the 1980s.” American Music, vol. 36, no. 3, Fall 2018, pp. 271-302. JSTOR (opens if signed into Atkins)

Himmelstein, Jerome L. “The New Right,” in The New Christian Right, ed. R. C. Liebman and R. Wuthnow, Aldine, 1983, 13-30.