#so cut out the middleman and live to a strong code of ethics. and frankly take as much of the middlemans power as you can

[lord-radish]

I think I'm beyond the point of an organised belief system or more far-out philosophical stance than I used to be, like I toyed with the idea of philosophical satanism for a while but learning about how shit the Satanic Temple and LaVeyan Satanism were really soured me on satanism on any level outside of aesthetic. Like fuck it I'll be a poser and dig satanic imagery while being actively critical of the institutions and foundational texts of the wider satanic/pagan movement. I'll respect the people and their own belief and adherence to an idealised version of that, but my belief in any of it, even as a transgressive counter-cultural movement, is gone.

Like for a while I just discussed satanism as a concept and talked about the tenets and how it can be a tongue-in-cheek reaction to organised religion that reflects and contrasts and is empowering and all that, and then it turns out one of the guys behind The Satanic Temple, Doug Mesicko or Doug Mesner or whatever his fucking name is, had a pro-eugenics website until very recently, chose to platform KKK members for years and is generally a very shitty, antisemitic gloryhog.

Like satanism as it exists today is a hokey novelty that some carnie came up with, and now the leading satanic org in the world take people to court because they have a copywrited version of Baphomet. It's a con, and it took the wind out of my sails, especially as more people championed TST on the grounds of religious freedom despite their consistently terrible track record in winning court cases for civil liberties.

Pro-Satan, pro-666, pro-power to the people, pro-transgression. That shit belongs to everyone. But my stance to any sort of institutionalization of that is that it should be burned to the ground. Nothing good comes from a counter-cultural institution. It's an oxymoron.