Jodie Jones case

[Helen]

Well I guess it's predictable that one of us was going to bring this up but it is of relevance to us.
And it happened in Dalkeith not far from where I am now living.
If you don't know and haven't seen the news lately, this is the case of the girl who was murdered by her boyfriend. He was sentenced today.
Unfortunately due to this sick little bastard's fondness for Marilyn Manson and interest in satanism, both of these cultural monuments of fear have come in for a great deal of mud-slinging yet again, because it's easier to blame them than to really look at why this guy became a murderer.
You don't need me to go into the details of why satanism and Manson should not be blamed, this should come very easily to a satanist, but I think it's worth us posting our complete condemnation of this guy's utterly un-satanic behaviour. I think I'm right in guessing that neither Marilyn Manson or Anton La Vey would condone what he did and no other satanist would condone what he did either or recognise his behaviour as satanic.
What a lot of misery he has caused. He has taken that girl's life, he has probably ruined the lives of all who loved her. And secondarily to all of that he has destroyed his own freedom, and added to societies prejudices against Manson and satanism - the very people he probably would have liked to impress. He's just added to their problems. Of course the biggest tragedy in all this is the loss of that girl's life and the effect that this will have on her loved ones, but I'd love to say to him,"nice going asshole, that was tragic and really bloody stupid all at once." His behaviour could not be in greater opposition to satanism. I wonder why he ended up like that.

[Hadilath]

So I jsut did a search for it. On the BBC page I found there was actually no mention of Satanism ( or Marilyn Manson for that matter)...And a greater emphasis laid on the alternative knee-jerk reaction that he sold cannabis, so he must be evil anyway, for beign a drug dealer!

At least that was my impression from the writing...

So, I searched again, adding Satanism into the search, and this time pulled up the sort of report you mention, from more local news sources.

These reports did hold quotes from the judge at the trial, which did seem to show the judge had a view of Satanism that read "I do not think that your interest in Satanism can be ignored as mere adolescent rebellion. I think it is a sign that you find evil attractive and that you thought there might be a kind of perverted glamour in doing something wicked."


Now to me that reads thats the judge is rather mis-informed..but then he wouldn't be the only one.. He has got past the idea that Satanism necessarily has a connection with 'evil' as he would perceive it, but he sees the only alternative as being the teenage gothic Satanist. The report largely shows the judge's lack of information on what Satanism actually entails. A lack of knwledge which is not entirely unexpected, however one might have hoped that the judge of a high-profile case might at least have made some effort to do a little reaseach on a subject before pronouncing it had a connection to the case.

On the whole tho.. I woudl say that the coverage I read could have been worse. Obviously incidents like this are deplorable..and I should say also deplorable in terms of publicity...But the judge could actually have been far less open minded on the issue than he actually seems to have been...he just didn't go far enough.

As to why the kid ended up like that... I would say that there are some corners of the human mind that are perhaps best left unexplored until one has the maturity not to be overwhelmed and obsessed by one's discoveries - and yet ironically appears that it can sometimes be those least prepared to cope, who are drawn there to begin with.

Just my thoughts...

Oh btw Helen, I'd be grateful if you could throw me a mail addy, by pm if necessary... Got something I'd like to send you

[Helen]

I might as well post my email address here as most people on here might want to use it at some stage. And we don't get that much traffic here so there isn't much of a chance of it being abused. Having said that, anyone who does abuse it will not get a reply and I will swiftly block the sender. Got more to do with my time than converse with trolls.

[e-mail].

I agree, Hadilath, it could have been worse. Marilyn Manson has refused to say much about the case because he doesn't want to publicise it. Apparantly he blames the parents though. Fair enough. But the things that result in a guy ending up a murderer are usually a combination of factors too complicated to decipher, unless you know the person in question extremely well.
The perfect judge - one who was well informed and respected satanism - would have told him that his actions were not only unlawful and deplorable but were also contrary to the beliefs he spouted. Instead the old cliches are allowed to perpetuate themselves.
On a personal level it doesn't affect me much and I'm not a 'spread the word' type, but I find this guy who murdered this girl so pathetic that it bugs me.

The coverage may have been heavier here in comparison to the rest of the world because the Scottish tabloids really went to town with this. Satan sells. Especially when taken out of context.
H.