Mejorar las instalaciones de la facultad

An international criminal network of devil-worshippers undoubtedly doesn’t exist. It is, however, illuminating to consider the doctrines of mod- ern Satanism, their relationship to legal and social issues, and the attitude toward satanic crimes. LaVey’s partner/biographer, rather than accept the exoneration provided by the very public defeat of SRA proponents, preferred to savor his influence. “Investigators, no matter how objective they may be, become disturbed by the increasing number of Satanic Bibles found at crime sites or in the personal effects of mass murderers. It may be that LaVey’s Satanic thought can release forces within unstable people that they are not able to control.”21 _{Or it may be that his work’s constant romanticizing and}

validation of strength, hatred, and vengeance is very easily used as a justifica- tion for violence. LaVey’s reactions to documented satanic crimes are blunt:

LaVey maintains that he isn’t really concerned about accusations of people killing people in the name of Satan. He swears that each time he reads of a new killing spree, his only reaction is, “What, 22 people? Is that all?” [ . . . ]

“I’d rather be in the company of killers than in the company of wimps. I don’t think you’d find the pretentiousness in people like Ramirez, or Stanley Dean Baker, or Huburty, or Manson—I don’t think you’d find the noise that all these puffed-up, empty barrel, supposed-Satanists make.”22

The four killers of LaVey’s preferred company were responsible, collectively, for more than 40 deaths. Baker was a cannibal who was found with half-eaten human fingers and a copy of The Satanic Bible. He was later judged insane. James Huberty machine-gunned down 40 people (killing 21) in a McDon- ald’s restaurant after losing his job as a security guard. LaVey took credit for this crime in his list of “Curses and Coincidences” in The Secret Life of a

Satanist,23 _{an action even Aquino described as “vulgar.”}24 _{The Night Stalker}

killer, Richard Ramirez, was one of the most notorious and high-profile sa- tanic crimes ever. Ramirez committed a wave of brutal murders and rapes in California in 1984 and 1985. Appearing in court with a pentagram tat- tooed on his hand, convicted of 13 murders and 11 sexual assaults, Ramirez was given the death sentence. In a later addition to his personal mythology, LaVey claimed to have briefly met and brushed off the young killer in a chance street encounter. He commented, “When I met Richard Ramirez, he was the nicest, most polite young man you’d ever want to meet . . . a model of deportment.”25

Given the evident approval of serial killers, it is pertinent to ask: What keeps a Satanist from breaking the law? In any case of illegal activities with a Satanic element, the established churches are quick to disavow knowledge of the person involved, and they generally deny the individual is a proper Sa- tanist at all. This double standard is common. Despite its author’s fondness for serial killers, The Satanic Bible emphasizes that Satanism is a law-abiding religion. One of its central doctrines is the tautological refrain “Respon- sibility to the responsible.”26 _{LaVey later elaborated, “in a Satanic society,}

everyone must experience the consequences of his own actions—for good or ill.”27 _{The meaning of this slippery doctrine was finally pinned down in the}

documentary Speak of the Devil :

We believe in taking responsibility for our own actions, and not saying, of course, as a Christian would, that “The devil made me do it.” And, if we do

something we have to answer for it. If it’s an anti-social act, we have to weigh the decision to do it, whether or not, if we get caught, if we get punished, it’s really worth it. And we don’t depend so much upon conscience, as we do upon pragmatism.28

The Satanist, then, stays within the bounds of the law only out of fear of punishment, not out of respect for the principles of law or moral qualms concerning victims. Legal boundaries can be ignored at the individual’s discretion—so long as the individual is ready to accept the consequences of being caught. The Satanic imperative to follow the law is entirely condi- tional. If the individual feels a particular act is justified, then she is entitled to commit it, regardless of any other considerations, be they legal, moral, or social. The suspicion that this is an open invitation to vigilantism is no misconception. LaVey, in addition to approving of Satanic killings, openly takes credit for them.

LaVey doesn’t shirk responsibility for what his writings may catalyze. “If The

Satanic Bible is spurring a changed perspective to unleash certain demons, cer-

tain elementals into the world, so be it . . . There will undoubtedly be more Satanically motivated murders and crimes in the sense that The Satanic Bible tells you “You don’t have to take any more shit.” But if Judeo-Christian society hadn’t encouraged this immoral succoring of the weak, and made it laudable to buoy up the useless, then there wouldn’t be this intensive need for a reac- tion against it. Of course, this extreme counter-swing of the pendulum, this vigilantism, will be interpreted as “mere anarchy loosed on the world,” but in reality it will be, for the first time since cave days, justice.29

Through the prism of Satanic social Darwinism, mass killers such as Rich- ard Ramirez, James Huberty, and Charles Manson represent justice. If a vi- cious sexual predator like Ramirez can be cast as a justified reaction to the presumed ills of society, then what exactly is justice, from a Satanic point of view? If existing moral standards and social policies are so deeply flawed, what do Satanists propose to replace them with?