From: revpk@cellar.org (Brian 'Rev P-K' Siano)
Newsgroups: soc.women,sci.skeptic,alt.sexual.abuse.recovery
Subject: Re: "Satanic Ritual Abuse" in the media
Date: 10 Jan 93 03:11:29 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

stote@tomcat.den.mmc.com (M. Stote) writes:

> In article <1ij2bcINNl25@darkstar.UCSC.EDU>, haynes@cats.ucsc.edu (Jim Haynes
> |> 
> |> In article <C0Iors.Mp8@cs.uiuc.edu> kadie@cs.uiuc.edu (Carl M. Kadie) writ
> |> >Primetime Live also said that
> |> >an FBI study (dated January 1992?) concluded that there was no
> |> >evidence of even one ritual-abuse related murder.
> |> So!  Even the FBI is covering up for Satan!
> |> -- 
> |> haynes@cats.ucsc.edu
> |> haynes@cats.bitnet
> 
> Personally I don't believe the FBI is covering anything up.  Someone on the
> Prime Time Live made a brief comment that clicked - `many of the groups 
> include morticians & doctors'.  I know this was true in Shelly's case.  with
> this combination, disposing of bodies is quite easy.
> 
	Actually, such a claim makes me doubt Satanic Ritual Abuse claims
even more. You see, the mechanisms for disposing of these bodies were never
brought up until objections were raised. Originally, one had such accounts
as "Satan's Underground" and "Michelle Remembers," where multiple homicides
were described-- but when police tried to track down the bodies, none
turnedup. (And when estimates of baby sacrifices reached two million or so,
and no bodies turning up yet, it became harder and harder to give the
claimants benefit of the doubt.)

	After a while, more grandiose methods were proposed. I think it was
Lauren Stratford who said that bodies were simply burned. When it was
pointed out that a fire doesn't generate enough heat to destroy bones, the
claim shifted to a shadwoy network of morticians and crematoriums who would
do the job for the Satanists. Nothing's turned up in investigating that,
either. There have also been accounts of 'portable crematoria,' but these
would require enough fuel to fill a Mack truck. 

	In other words, when the evidence is nonexistent, more and more
grandiose conspiracies are invoked to 'explain' it.


> My own opinion of the Prime Time piece is that they took what is a very 
> legitimate problem in psycho-therapy right now - the satanic ritual abuse
> bandwagon and some (maybe a large percentage maybe not) therapists using 
> leading techniques to encourage their clients towards a specific diagnosis
> - and used this as a reason to discount almost all claims of satanic cult
> abuse.
	But this is where most such accounts are _coming_ from these days--
after about tenyears of hearing such tales from evangelicals and
Fundamentalists, and having the claims amplified in the news media, the
basic 'model' for such ritual abuse is known by most people. Nowadays, the
standard model is forsomeone to go to a therapist with a different
psychological problem, ranging from mild anxiety to an eating disorder, and
suddenly having these memories 'drawn out' through highly questionable
methods.

	What will be discredited are claims of abuse that _does_ occur;
child abuse, rape, and incest. (How frequently, I have no idea, but I doubt
the "one-in-three" figures bandied about most of the time.) That's what's
most distressing about this nonsense.

> 
> I felt pretty resigned after watching the show.  It just reinforced my opinio
> that this stuff is just so horrible that people don't want to believe it. 
> I'm glad I was present when Shelly went thru a guided imagery session dealing
> with her experiences.  I was really observant of how careful her therapist 
> was not to provide leading situations or ask leading questions.  
> 
	Uh, some of us are more than capable of believing it-- all we wnat
is some evidence for it.



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Brian "Rev. P-K" Siano                                  revpk@cellar.org

"Do I BELIEVE in the Bible? Hell, man, I've even SEEN one!!"
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