blindpig
10-16-2007, 11:18 AM
Just in time for Halloween!
I came upon this asshole in my youth, obtaining a copy of The Satanic Bible by five-finger-discount. Even in my callow youth I found it obnoxious and considered it the perfect religion for assholes. Of course I didn't know what a libertarian was back then, else I'd have been more specific.
The Satanic Bible was written by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1969. It is a collection of essays, observations and basic Satanic rituals, and outlines LaVey's Satanic ideology. The author claims the influence of Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ragnar Redbeard and Ayn Rand among others.
Follows up on the concept of "I am my own god" with a full explanation of the Satanic egocentric view of the world. This short essay states that as all gods are of human creation, worshipping an external god is to worship another human by proxy; therefore, the sensible, Satanic approach is to create your own god, namely yourself, and to "worship" this god. The result, of course, is to view oneself as the most important of all beings, and to adopt an unapologetically self-centered view of the world and course of action.
Envy and greed are the motivating forces of ambition - and without ambition, very little of any importance would be accomplished.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Bible
3. Satanists see nature as a dark force, a very fascist force, within them and without them. When you hear them talking about fascism, they are often thinking of what I can only call "deep fascism," not political fascism. I agree with the assertion that a Libertarian society would be the best one for Satanists, from a political perspective, but we also have a lot of opinions about the social structure of a Satanic society. Would we be "free" to enslave ourselves to each other, if that's how we wanted to live? While Libertarianism might rule the land, Satanists may choose to live in tribal settings that are _internally_ very Communistic or Socialistic. For example, I wouldn't mind "working for the good of others" as long as the "others" were of my choosing, my tribe of loved ones.
http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/ ... nazism.htm (http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/Satanism/satanism_and_nazism.htm)
generalizations can be made: the average Satanist disagrees with much of Christianity, believes in no absolute moral code, and places emphasis on the individual and personal rights. If you think this sounds like Libertarianism, you're right; many Satanists consider themselves Libertarians or feel close to the party on social issues.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/dvera/vari ... anism.html (http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/dvera/varieties/alt-satanism.html)
Or did it? Well, not really. When I finally read "The Satanic Bible", I was very disappointed. *This* is supposedly the most dangerous book ever written?! You gotta be kidding. And, of course, Anton Szandor LaVey *is* kidding. His Church of Satan isn't really Satanist at all, and uses the designation mostly to provoke people, Christians in particular. If anything, "The Satanic Bible" is libertarian and hedonistic. When I read it, it struck me that the morality of LaVey, considered shocking 40 years ago, is actually embraced by most people today. Has the West gone Satanic? Hardly, but it has become more overtly secularized, liberal and hedonistic than it was on Walpurgisnacht 1966, when LaVey supposedly shaved his head and formed his black arts organization.
In the final analysis the difference between the Libertarian-Satanist and the "Fascist-Satanists" are fundamental: the former see Satanism as nothing more than rampant individualism to the point of trivializing life itself; the latter see Satanism as a Nietzschean/Faustian imperative towards continuing human ascent - both biological and cultural.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/philosophy/fo ... tagsDetail (http://www.amazon.com/tag/philosophy/forum?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1BEW5SYFX6OUZ&cdThread=Tx2X9920DXAYO8H&displayType=tagsDetail)
"There is nothing inherently wrong with fascism, given the nature and needs of the average citizen... Now it's not so much a case of avoiding fascism, but of replacing a screwed up, disjointed, fragmented and stupefying kind of fascism with one that is more sensible and truly progressive." - Anton LaVey
Satanism is also criticized as a recycled version of older ideas such as existentialism and perhaps individualism. LaVey has described his Satanism as "just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added" [2]. Critics have suggested that LaVey simply took the philosophy of Satanism from Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche, adding on the symbol of Satan and watered down versions of magical ideas taken from Aleister Crowley.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVeyan_Satanism
http://www.satanservice.org/graphics/anton-lavey.jpg
Not the most authoritative set of references, but what ya expect from an asshole who's not gotten any of that good Volker money, best I could tell.
I came upon this asshole in my youth, obtaining a copy of The Satanic Bible by five-finger-discount. Even in my callow youth I found it obnoxious and considered it the perfect religion for assholes. Of course I didn't know what a libertarian was back then, else I'd have been more specific.
The Satanic Bible was written by Anton Szandor LaVey in 1969. It is a collection of essays, observations and basic Satanic rituals, and outlines LaVey's Satanic ideology. The author claims the influence of Machiavelli, Friedrich Nietzsche, Ragnar Redbeard and Ayn Rand among others.
Follows up on the concept of "I am my own god" with a full explanation of the Satanic egocentric view of the world. This short essay states that as all gods are of human creation, worshipping an external god is to worship another human by proxy; therefore, the sensible, Satanic approach is to create your own god, namely yourself, and to "worship" this god. The result, of course, is to view oneself as the most important of all beings, and to adopt an unapologetically self-centered view of the world and course of action.
Envy and greed are the motivating forces of ambition - and without ambition, very little of any importance would be accomplished.[2]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Bible
3. Satanists see nature as a dark force, a very fascist force, within them and without them. When you hear them talking about fascism, they are often thinking of what I can only call "deep fascism," not political fascism. I agree with the assertion that a Libertarian society would be the best one for Satanists, from a political perspective, but we also have a lot of opinions about the social structure of a Satanic society. Would we be "free" to enslave ourselves to each other, if that's how we wanted to live? While Libertarianism might rule the land, Satanists may choose to live in tribal settings that are _internally_ very Communistic or Socialistic. For example, I wouldn't mind "working for the good of others" as long as the "others" were of my choosing, my tribe of loved ones.
http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/ ... nazism.htm (http://www.meta-religion.com/Esoterism/Satanism/satanism_and_nazism.htm)
generalizations can be made: the average Satanist disagrees with much of Christianity, believes in no absolute moral code, and places emphasis on the individual and personal rights. If you think this sounds like Libertarianism, you're right; many Satanists consider themselves Libertarians or feel close to the party on social issues.
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/dvera/vari ... anism.html (http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/dvera/varieties/alt-satanism.html)
Or did it? Well, not really. When I finally read "The Satanic Bible", I was very disappointed. *This* is supposedly the most dangerous book ever written?! You gotta be kidding. And, of course, Anton Szandor LaVey *is* kidding. His Church of Satan isn't really Satanist at all, and uses the designation mostly to provoke people, Christians in particular. If anything, "The Satanic Bible" is libertarian and hedonistic. When I read it, it struck me that the morality of LaVey, considered shocking 40 years ago, is actually embraced by most people today. Has the West gone Satanic? Hardly, but it has become more overtly secularized, liberal and hedonistic than it was on Walpurgisnacht 1966, when LaVey supposedly shaved his head and formed his black arts organization.
In the final analysis the difference between the Libertarian-Satanist and the "Fascist-Satanists" are fundamental: the former see Satanism as nothing more than rampant individualism to the point of trivializing life itself; the latter see Satanism as a Nietzschean/Faustian imperative towards continuing human ascent - both biological and cultural.
http://www.amazon.com/tag/philosophy/fo ... tagsDetail (http://www.amazon.com/tag/philosophy/forum?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1BEW5SYFX6OUZ&cdThread=Tx2X9920DXAYO8H&displayType=tagsDetail)
"There is nothing inherently wrong with fascism, given the nature and needs of the average citizen... Now it's not so much a case of avoiding fascism, but of replacing a screwed up, disjointed, fragmented and stupefying kind of fascism with one that is more sensible and truly progressive." - Anton LaVey
Satanism is also criticized as a recycled version of older ideas such as existentialism and perhaps individualism. LaVey has described his Satanism as "just Ayn Rand's philosophy with ceremony and ritual added" [2]. Critics have suggested that LaVey simply took the philosophy of Satanism from Rand and Friedrich Nietzsche, adding on the symbol of Satan and watered down versions of magical ideas taken from Aleister Crowley.[citation needed]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaVeyan_Satanism
http://www.satanservice.org/graphics/anton-lavey.jpg
Not the most authoritative set of references, but what ya expect from an asshole who's not gotten any of that good Volker money, best I could tell.