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  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)
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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
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