The Cloven Hoof, Issue 93

The Cloven Hoof

Vol. XIII, #6 93rd Issue

Entire contents by Anton Szandor La Vey

Censorship is so closely associated with curtailment of freedom that any rational defense of censorship is doomed, especially when one considers the types who advocate it. Invariably, censorship's defenders are motivated by moral or religious codes. My defense of censorship is inspired by my distaste for stupidity in general and sameness brought about from lack of imagination in particular. Freedom from censorship in the arts has resulted in excess being the rule, with subtlety non-existent. Thus excess is demanded because it is the only thing able to be recognized. When excess and extremes are so commonplace as to no longer be exciting, the comparatively bland titillations of prohibitive eras don't stand a chance if left to themselves to surface as alternatives. It has been theorized that permissiveness in the arts leaves little or nothing to the imagination. That is presuming that an imagination still exists. After intensive programming, imagination can be cur- tailed and subsequently eliminated altogether. Imagination can only function under conditions which encourage it. I believe there is little personal imagination around. Collective imagination is just directed toward situations and things other than would come under the censor's stamp. Instead of leaving sexual matters to exercise imaginations, the arts were given total freedom to explicitly portray any sexual fantasy or speculation The onslaught of permissiveness which was characterized by sexual freedom and porn was an act of misdirection. The function of photography, painting, literature, filmmaking, etc., as an imagination factory ceased. Art is no more than a clobbering propaganda vehicle to promote popular thought and consumerism. Speculation and imagination are no longer fostered by sexual repressions, but by the more economically fertile fields of political unrest, conspiratorial shenanigans, family and domestic dilemma, health problems, identity crises, and the like. About the only thing to do with sex speculation is of a non-erotic nature per se; the problems of men coping with women and vice versa. No imagination is exercised in copulation anymore, but in coping. The only way to bring imagination back to sex where it belongs is through censorship, either voluntary or enforced. The horrible sameness that has engulfed the arts takes many forms; what do varieties in face and physique matter in a men's magazine, when close scrutiny of the genitals is demanded. Or even less important, facial expression. The great service to mankind's development that censorship has provided is this: It hones the imagination whereby human response to subtleties of sensuality is possible. It makes for greater sensitivity on a personal level, thereby provoking greater individual thought. It imposes restrictions which cry out to be circumvented--necessitating cunning, innovation, variety and invention. Censorship is a means towards personal freedom, the most personal of freedoms: a mind that can still function as a creative and thinking tool, not by what it is "free" to do in all its collective sameness, but what it is motivated to do because of certain limitations.

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A lot of people wonder and ask: "What does a Satanist do?" It's not what a Satanist does, but what he or she doesn't do. The cliché, "Everybody's doing it." can be inverted into, "We are not doing it."

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The prime prerequisite of a Satanist is individuality. That's why the Church of Satan is the only cohesive body in the world which can honestly proclaim itself an organization for non-joiners. That is not a contradiction in terms. It's one's pride in and practice of freedom from herd mentality which prompts affiliation with a body of other free spirits.

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Now that one-time secret martial arts (jujitsu, karate, kung fu, etc.) are what everyone practices--like boxing used to be--what are the fighting skills that are practiced by the few?

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