'True Detective' Criticized for Depiction of Satanic Abuse in Evangelical Church: A '90s 'Myth,' Say Critics
HBO's True Detective re-opened the discussion about satanic ritual abuse or SRA by depicting children suffering through these horrific practices in the show's storyline.
This lead to a media frenzy and the resurfacing of past stories that may have been used as inspiration for the plot of season one. Some publications mocked the allegations behind the practice including The Citizen, who blasted True Detective for its depictions of something close to SRA.
"True Detective is a brilliant, compelling drama but, like The Birth of a Nation, its plot depends on exploiting a massive distortion of the historical truth or, less demurely, on transmuting noxious lies about the past into art," wrote Paul Campos regarding the show's depiction of the occult.
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Many cases involving alleged SRA in institutions of learning for children lead to a huge scare in the late 1980s and 1990s. Most of them eventually ended up being dismissed by the judicial system as sufficient evidence was never provided for convictions for the adults who were charged.
The "True Detective" SRA frenzy even caught the attention of Buzzfeed, who analyzed a bizarre children's book in the 1990s penned by Doris Sanford titled Don't Make Me Go Back Mommy last month. Buzzfeed put up excerpts from the book in a post titled "The Children's Book About A Satanic Daycare Actually Exists."
The book was written to educate mental health professionals, school counselors, parent organizations and sports groups and to show them what signs to look for to know if their child was being abused.
"The words of the text and the objects and situations illustrated are based on months of intensive research into the nature and practice of satanic ritual abuse," reads the book's description.
Vigilant Citizen posted up various images taken from the book that depict some of the practices the children are tricked into participating in.
One example includes their teacher telling them that the door must be locked to keep them safe, when in reality, they are locking it so that no one can see the abuse happening. The book also discusses the kids telling their parents that they got married today, which refers to SRA victims becoming brides of Satan through a terrifying ritual.
The niche website also made an intertesting point regarding BuzzFeed's post and many of the other articles discussing SRA.
"That being said, every time this book – or SRA in general – are mentioned online (i.e. this BuzzFeed article or the book's Amazon reviews) there are tons of comments insisting on the fact that SRA does not exist and that it is a myth that was propagated in the '80s," wrote the site.
Many of these pictures from the book can be seen here.
True Detective featured children being abused within a fairly large evangelical establishment. More about that can be read here.
