'I am not of this world' , Manuela Ruda claimed before being sent down along with husband Daniel for 13 years for the murder of Frank Hackert by stabbing him 66 times. Well you’re right there, girl – and I for one am not sorry you’ve been put out of society’s way. So why is this case pivotal to our future freedom of expression?
Judge Arno Kresting-Tomburg did not send the Rudas to prison but to secure psychiatric units, saying that society had a duty to cure them of their severe mental disorders. The trouble is, the wording of this humane deliberation will give the green light to Christian fundamentalists, social workers, criminologists and satan hunters everywhere to pick up on the alleged goth, vampyre and satanist connections this case has attracted and classify them as contributory to severe mental disorders.
I can already hear people saying,
“Ah but the Rudas weren’t proper vamps/goths etc!”
For the record, the Rudas were not proper satanists either – The Church of Satan scorns and forbids blood sacrifice from either humans or animals – but will telling the media make any difference? In short, no. The press primarily want to sell as many newspapers as they can with as juicy a storyline as they can get away with, the Christians have their own agenda and the non-goth and vamp average public don’t have the time or the interest to sort out the distinctions, important though they undoubtedly are.
I have fourteen years experience of research of the Satanic Abuse Myth – those of you who want to find out more about the fundamentalist falsehoods uncovered should have a look at the HMSO publication The Extent & Nature of Ritual & Organised Abuse by Professor J.S. La Fontaine – not the pleasantest of reading material but it does explain how Social Services departments took as gospel the often outrageous claims of special “Advisors” more often than not from a fundamentalist Christian outlook but also including allegedly neutral people from a variety of professional backgrounds – they are still on the scene and the message they are peddling is the same – that certain social groups (goths/vamps/metal/occultists) are more likely to commit particular types of crime than other stratas of society. The ace up their sleeve is the use of children and other vulnerable groups as spiritual and moral currency.
What can you do about it? At this stage it’s perhaps more important to know what not to do. The biggest mistake many people from pagan and wiccan groups made was to fragment and to try and justify themselves according to Christian critera: We’re all nice people really – it’s the Satanists who are the dodgy ones – by passing the buck they are actually endorsing the lie. I am not a reprensentative of any Satanic organisation but they are the barometer by which occultist/ vamp/goth /fetish groups will be measured and this is why I would discourage the temptation of Right of Reply where the media are concerned. I have seen many intelligent, well meaning, well motivated people made to look stupid because the media have already decided what the angle of this kind of issue will be. They will never let you have the last word.
As you can imagine, I have barely scratched the surface of this subject – so if anyone wants to find out more, challenge my point of view, or tell me something new – feel free to e mail me at: nick@goblins.demon.co.uk
(c) Nick R , Jan 2002
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