Beth Winegarner is an author, journalist and sociologist who is working on a guidebook for parents about teen culture. For more on her work, visit bethwinegarner.com.
For the past couple of years, I’ve had a Google Alert set for the word “Satanic.”
I created it because I wanted to study how media use the word. Every day, news stories and links containing the word “Satanic” wend their way to my inbox. They range from articles about Salman Rushdie (all of which mention The Satanic Verses
) to pieces about Toyota recalls, calling sticky gas pedals “Satanic.”
However, many are articles about crime. Big, gory, violent crime, and petty graffiti depicting pentagrams and other symbols. Continue reading »
Saturday Signal: sifting the signal from the noise of the Internet’s occultural cacophony.
Busy times, and it’s been a while since I last posted a Saturday Signal. Indeed, the last one was on Hallowe’en, that overcommercialized wreck of an otherwise excellent holy day.
The Onion is outraged, and takes pains to reminds us that “frightenin’ away demons is the reason for the season.” Which is pretty awesome.
It recently came to my attention that Earth’s Moon may be from Mercury. It’s a wild idea, and not universally accepted, but possible. Hey, at least Pluto’s still a planet, right? Right.
- Artist and magickian Danny Chaoflux wrote an interesting though unstructured piece titled “Style Sheet Witchcraft” discussing Aleister Crowley, chaos magick, Anton LaVey, memetics and art with some great design tips.
- An Italian inventor has created a holy water dispenser to help combat the spread of swine flu, so reports the Telegraph.co.uk. Apparently this thing’s a sacred cash cow. The designer is quoted as saying: “After all the news that some churches, like Milan’s cathedral, were suspending the use of holy water fonts as a measure against swine flu, demands for my invention shot to the stars. I have received orders from all over the world.” Well, why not? Though holy hand sanitizer would likely prove more useful in the long term. Any religious market for that?
Until next week, mes amis.
Saturday Signal typically sifts the signal from the noise of the Internet’s occultural cacophony, and this week’s links list focuses heavily on religion – how it changes, and its lack.
Is spirituality on a decline? Or is it only religion that’s become outmoded?
Are Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens correct? And, if so is this a good thing?
- Fawad Ali Shah reminisces about Buddhism in Pakistan for the Daily Times, noting that not a single monastery remains.
Continue reading »
