Media coverage of “satanic cults”

It was really disappointing today to see the Guardian join the ranks of media outlets which have fallen prey to the lure of exploiting the perceived “shock factor” of Satanism to spice up their headlines. [Guardian article: “A 23-year-old was arrested for gun possession. It led the FBI to a global Satanic cult”]

We’ve written before about the Order of Nine Angles (O9A), its various offshoots and splinter groups, and how their adoption of Satanic imagery is in truth just a fig leaf to conceal the neo-Nazism festering beneath. You can read more about the history of these groups on Hope Not Hate’s page here.

Whether it’s O9A itself, Atomwaffen Division, National Action, the Base, Tempel ov Blood or now the people calling themselves 764 – the common thread between them all is their corrupt and poisonous roots in fascistic extremism, from which sickening, twisted branches of malignancy and abuse invariably grow.

With a long and depressing history of perpetrating disgusting violence and cruelty, it’s hardly a surprise that child sexual exploitation, extortion, and torture are now also part of their supremacist dealings.

When reporting is centred around the supposed “Satanic cult” trappings of right-wing extremist groups, it might make them seem novel and exotic – but the sad reality is that these are the same mundane Neo-Nazis we’ve always fought to oppose, and up to the same vile deeds as always. Focusing on the perpetrators is much easier than remembering to support their many blameless victims, who are all too easily forgotten among the sensationalism – but it’s much more important to keep doing the work until their abusers are rendered powerless. It’s heartening that this case was kicked off by a report on social media: the more it becomes obvious to them that their hate-filled beliefs should be left to wither in private, the less harm they can cause to those around them.

Satanism has no place for Nazism, white supremacy or anti-Semitism. We utterly condemn all such groups and the harm they cause, and we fully endorse Hope Not Hate’s call for O9A to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation.