******************************************************************************* From: Diane Vera Msg Num: 86 of 91 To: All Date: 02 Mar 92 19:56:00 Subj: Trapezoi.TXT (1 of 6) Attr: Read: N Conf: Magickal Chat Echo (93Net) ******************************************************************************* To give other readers some background on the discussion amongst Tim Maroney, Balanone, and myself, which I am now trying to move from the BASE OF SET echo to OASIS, here is a revised version of my 5- part message "Trapezoi.TXT" which I posted to All in BASE OF SET on February 23. . Following is my critique of Tim Maroney's November 1990 article "The Nazi Trapezoid" (Trapezoi.TXT), which presents Tim's opinion that Michael Aquino and the Temple of Set's Order of the Trapezoid are covertly "sympathetic" to Nazism. . Near the beginning of Tim's article, before discussing why he thinks Aquino is a "Nazi sympathizer", Tim makes the following observation: . TM > Aquino himself has been the target of some of the worst modern witch hunting, being falsely accused of child molestation based on a statement by a Christian minister. Despite having much of his personal property seized by the police, his name and face splashed all over papers and television as a child molester, and his career interfered with, he was never formally charged with any crime. It is not only clear that he did not do it; it is clear that he couldn't have done it, since he was not even in the vicinity when the alleged abuse occurred. . Given Aquino's direct personal experience as a persecuted member of a minority religion, he really would have to be out of his mind to support either (1) Nazism as it existed in Germany or (2) modern American neo-Nazism and neo-fascism, intertwined as the latter are with "theo-fascist" Christianity. Anton LaVey, on the other hand, has never experienced this kind of harassment (not as far as I know, anyway) and is thus able to fantasize that there is such a thing as a "benign police state". . It is true that the oppressed, when liberated, can become the oppressors. However, it's unlikely that in Aquino's lifetime, the Temple of Set will ever be politically "liberated" enough to become an oppressor (at least not in any more-than-petty sense). Thus it will always be in Aquino's interests to fight *for* freedom, not against it. (At least within THIS country. We don't know what he may be doing, in his capacity as a military intelligence officer, by way of supporting fascist dictatorships in other countries.) As far as I know, the only political activism he's involved in is the Alliance of Magical and Earth Religions, a group which fights for religious freedom, and whose enemy is America's number-one brand of neo-fascism, i.e. theo-fascism. . The bulk of Tim's article is based on two ToS documents which can be found as files on various bulletin boards: the "Order of the Trapezoid - Statement" and the ToS reading list, Category 14, "Fascism, Totalitarianism, and Magic". Both of these documents do contain statements which could be interpreted as covert "sympathy" for Nazism; but this does not seem to me to be the correct interpretation. . TM > Consider this passage from "Order of the Trapezoid - Statement": "Crucial also to German Romanticism were the concepts of _dynamism_ and _life-worship_. The former term represents an urge towards constant movement and evolution, whether intellectual, artistic, or social. [...] The uncanny attraction of the Third Reich - Nazi Germany - lies in the fact that it endorsed and practiced both dynamism and life-worship without restraint and to a world-shaking degree of success." As he will not in public debate, Aquino also discusses here his trifling criticisms of Nazism: "Just as the Third Reich's dynamism got out of hand, leading it to embark on irrational and destructive foreign invasions, so its life-worship - which could have been a truly evolutionary synthesis of the most sublime concepts of Hegel and Nietzsche - became perverted into crude xenophobia, hatreds built upon superficial notions of 'race', and ultimately a maddened stampede towards a Wagnerian _Goetterdaemmerung_ in defiance of a return to rationalism." . This is hardly a "trifling criticism", despite its apologetic tone. Nazism without "crude Xenophobia" would be a little like fundamentalism without Biblical inerrancy. Aquino is endorsing the German Romantic philosophical *background* of Nazism, but *not* Nazism's own central idea, which is none other than "crude xenophobia" and "hatreds built upon superficial notions of 'race'". (And, as a Hispanic person living in a largely "Nordic" white- dominated country, Aquino would have to be really insane to sympathize with "Nordic" xenophobia, "crude" or otherwise.) . Aquino's statement *is* worded a bit strangely, though, as if he sees the philosophical background of "dynamism and life worship" as being more central to Nazism than its defining themes of extreme xenophobia and totalitarianism. In BASE OF SET on February 23, I asked if anyone could provide some quotes from ToS literature clarifying this. On February 25, Balanone (who is a high-ranking ToS member: at least a priest, if not higher, though he is not a member of the Order of the Trapezoid) wrote to me "Re: Trapezoi.TXT (2 of 5)": . B > I can't provide any quotes, but perhaps a possible explanation. Recognizing that neither xenophobia nor totalitarianism supplies any reason to explore the history, works, or any other aspect of Naziism, perhaps it's that background of "dynamism and life worship" that makes Naziism worth looking at. More, while "dynamism and life worship" sounds grand and glorious, and none of us would turn our backs on dynamism and life worship, the Nazis demonstrated that this core concept can be twisted into horrendous and horrific activity. Perhaps we should study and learn from that lesson, hopefully to avoid repeating that specific lesson of history again... . Back to Tim's article: . TM > This "discretion" in discussing the elements of the Temple of Set which are sympathetic to Nazism is also evident in the Temple of Set reading list on the subject of "Fascism, Totalitarianism, and Magic". Aquino repeatedly implies in this list that he would like to endorse Nazi "philosophy", but he wouldn't want to be accused of "crimethink", so read it and decide for yourself. The reading list makes it clear that Aquino is not only a Nazi sympathizer but an advocate of Nazi racial policy -- albeit of an enlightened interpretation based on the prime movers of the party rather than the "hatreds built upon superficial notions of 'race'" practiced by the rank and file. Yet it was the philosophers and the movers and shakers, not the rank and file, who created the policy of vernichtung, the "final solution", annihilation of the Jews -- a subject on which Aquino maintains silence. In one review, he even admits that the only reason he holds back from outright endorsement of "a European race history that would have done credit to Hitler" is that he "wouldn't want to get in trouble for even appearing to endorse it". . Tim is referring here to 14N, THE PASSING OF THE GREAT RACE by Madison Grant. Aquino's review says: . MA > You can still find #14F in print, because it's a good whipping-boy for sanctimonous finger-waggling. It is less easy to find the books from 'our side' that argued along similar lines. This is [was!] one of the more famous, and you may still uncover an occasional copy in the back room of a used-book store or in the darkest corners of obscure libraries. Grant was not exactly a nonentity or lunatic-fringe fanatic. He was Chairman of the New York Zoological Society, Trustee of the American Museum of Natural History, and a Councilor of the American Geographical Society. In this book [by a prominent publisher] he argues a forceful case for a European race history that would have done credit to Hitler and Rosenberg. The most interesting aspect of this book is that only a very few years ago it was accepted as a respectable contender in the academic/scientific community. After World War II it was, in Orwell's terms, guilty of Crimethink and thus condemned to be an Unperson. There is a lesson to be learned here concerning the durability and invulnerability of 'established scientific fact' when it becomes politically or socially inconvenient. I hereby suggest that you make up your own mind as to whether the book is convincing. After all, I wouldn't want to get in trouble for even appearing to endorse it. . In December 1991 in BASE OF SET, I asked Oz Tech about this. (Oz Tech is a black woman and a Setian priestess.) On December 22, Oz Tech wrote to me "Re: Politics and Satanism": . OT > Again, irony comes through poorly in print. Yes, Aquino writes of whether it is convincing -- but does he write of whether it is true? And if you think I'm side-stepping the question, look at the LBM section of the reading list: an entire section devoted to stage magic, propaganda, and other techniques that rely on the difference between "convincingness" and truth! Is the mention of this book truly out of place? If Aquino's trying to make a point about the susceptibility of intelligent people to insanity I can't think of a better way to go than to cite a respected American scientist who spins pseudoscience *exactly* like a German National Socialist. . In the context of the reading list, it is not at all clear that "the susceptibility of intelligent people to insanity" is, in fact, the point Aquino was trying to make in his review of 14N. However, Tim and I don't have the full context. The reading list is an excerpt from THE CRYSTAL TABLET. In BASE OF SET on February 23, I asked if anyone could provide any concise quotes, from THE CRYSTAL TABLET or other official ToS literature, which clarify Aquino's point, i.e. which clearly indicate that concern about "the susceptibility of intelligent people to insanity" is one of the Order of the Trapezoid's reasons for studying Nazism. No one provided any such quotes at that time. However, judging by what Balanone and Frc have told me so far about the Wewelsburg Working (including a lengthy excerpt from the paper "the Wewelsburg Working", which Balanone posted in a message to me on February 21), it does indeed seem likely that Aquino and the Order of the Trapezoid are concerned about such matters, though from a mostly nonpolitical perspective. . Tim also quotes Aquino's review of MEIN KAMPF (14F): . MA > Everyone knows that this is 'the most evil book ever written', but few have taken the time to actually read it, hence cannot really explain why. Further complicating the situation is Hitler's interspersion of political philosophy (interesting) with emotional tirades (not so interesting). Look for the discussions concerning the selection of leaders, control of the masses, and the justification for human social organization. You may be surprised at what you discover. . Tim, have you ever read MEIN KAMPF? I never did read the whole thing, but I read about half of it back when I was in college and, while I can't remember very many specifics, I do remember having a reaction quite similar to Aquino's review; and I'm certainly not a Nazi sympathizer. . The "emotional tirades (not so interesting)" are the rants against Jews, against Communists, and against democracy -- in short, everything we ordinarily think of as Nazism. These "tirades" are, however, interspersed with some very clear-headed insights into the workings of politics in general. And indeed, Hitler *had to* have had some profound insights into the workings of politics, or he couldn't have been as successful as he was. Those insights may well be worth learning from. I should probably read them again someday. . TM > Apparently, the only flaw of Nazism was that it took its great ideas too far. Aquino thinks of Nazism as a wonderful movement that went wrong. Therefore, it seems fair to refer to him as a Nazi sympathizer, though perhaps not as a Neo-Nazi. . One problem here is the vagueness of the term "Nazi sympathizer", as distinguished from "Neo-Nazi". My idea of a "Nazi sympathizer" who is not a "Neo-Nazi" would be a person who doesn't just admire some aspects of Nazi philosophy (however central he perceives those aspects to be) but is also a self-identified racist (at least when talking to other racists) and thinks Bush is too liberal, yet who has assorted minor disagreements with today's neo-Nazi organizations (or perhaps just thinks neo-Nazism is a lost cause). Can a person who does not endorse "Nordic" xenophobia be meaningfully called a "Nazi sympathizer", even if that person thinks Nazism had some admirable qualities (and even if that person is counterproductively defensive about his admiration for those qualities)? . TM > It could of course be objected that these selections are out of context. Both length and copyright considerations prevent quoting the entire file here, [...] However, a book-by-book breakdown by category is appropriate. Here is a summary of the classifications, followed by an in-depth explanation and listing of each category. I believe the numbers speak for themselves. PRO-NAZI (7) BOTH ANTI-NAZI AND ANTI-COMMUNIST (2) ANTI-NAZI (1) NAZI OCCULTISM (7) NON-NAZI OCCULTISM (2) NEUTRAL HISTORY (5) PRO-NAZI (7) Obviously, any investigation of Nazism must include a study of source materials from within the movement. Therefore, presentation of the opinions of Hitler, Rosenberg, Haushofer, etc., was not considered a criterion for classifying a source as pro-Nazi. These citations are considered pro-Nazi because Aquino's review praises their opinions, and those opinions are clearly pro-Nazi. . But *which* opinions does Aquino praise? Not all the opinions of a Nazi are specifically pro-Nazi; most Nazis, for example, were probably of the opinion that the sky is blue. Aquino never praises any specifically pro-Nazi opinions (except possibly in his review of 14N, for which Oz Tech has provided an alternative explanation). Aquino merely asserts that the Nazi leaders had a lot of valuable political, philosophical, and magic(k)al insights, which magic(k)ians can learn from. . TM > NON-NAZI OCCULTISM (2) A surprisingly slim selection, considering how often Aquino and his associate in the Order of the Trapezoid, Stephen Flowers ("Edred Thorsson"), use the phrase "Germanic occultism" rather than "Nazi occultism". Obviously the preferred phrase is a euphemism. . No, a more likely reason for the "slim selection" of books on non- Nazi occultism is that there's no reason to include them in a section of the reading list on "Totalitarianism, Fascism, and Magic". A more logical place to list books on non-Nazi "Germanic occultism" would be in section 24 of the reading list, "Runic Arts and Sciences". . I would appreciate any comments anyone may have. Sometime in the next month or so, I will upload a revised version of this string of messages (revised in light of any worthwhile feedback I get, especially from ToS members and/or Tim) as a file on several bulletin boards. . I would especially appreciate it if anyone can provide clear, concise quotes from THE CRYSTAL TABLET or other official ToS literature which support or clarify any of the points I've made in these messages. Such quotes may also come in handy if I ever again have occasion to rebut an anti-Satanist article like Bonewits's "The Enemies of Our Enemies", one of whose key arguments was a claim that Satanic organizations, including ToS, are "extremely fascistic". (My response to that article can be downloaded from BaphoNet or HaditNet as the file DVeraBon.TXT, if anyone is interested.) -!- Maximus 2.00 ! Origin: BaphoNet-by-the-Sea -=- 718/499-9277 (1:278/666)