Arhive oznaka: logical mistakes

heavy metal, Philosophy

LOGICAL FALLACIES OF CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ABOUT HEAVY METAL MUSIC AND BANDS (PART 5)

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FALLACY #24: STATING THAT A BAND IS NS, BUT NOT PROVING IT

For a band to be national-socialist or NS, the band has to have national-socialist lyrical content that promotes national-socialism (this is my opinion, if someone else has their definition, let me hear it). Now, I have seen a lot of people making a prejudice that a  band is NS because of the following reasons:

  1. A BAND IS NS BECAUSE IT HAS PAGAN LYRICAL CONTENT AND IMAGERY

This is a common fallacy. I believe it is common because NS and pagan content do mix often. There are bands that are NS and pagan, but one cannot judge that a band is NS if their lyrical content and imagery are pagan or promote paganism. Just because a band promotes their own pagan culture and the heritage of their own people, it does not mean they are necessarily NS. If that is the case, bands like Amon Amarth and Tyr would be categorized as NS.

  • PROMOTING YOUR OWN PEOPLE IS NOT NS

There is a misconception that if a band has lyrical content that promotes its own people racially, ethnically and culturally, then the band is surely NS. I might speculate why people connect these things together, but I can ask some questions. For instance, if a Mongolian metal band promotes their own racial, ethnic and cultural background, does that make them a national-socialist band? I would not agree with a positive answer. Maybe the band is proud of their Mongolian background, its heritage and the history of their own people.
Just a quick note, national-socialism is a political system which any state could implement it.

  • IF A BAND HAS 1 SONG THAT IS IN SOME WAY CONNECTED TO NATIONAL-SOCIALISM, THAT DOES NOT MAKE THEM NECESSARILY NS

Let us say there is a band whose new album just came out. Let us also suppose that they are a glam metal band. They have recorded ten songs and one of them is called “Meine Ehre Heißt Treue”. That is the motto of the SS which translated to English means “My Honor is Loyalty”.

Let us continue with the argument. Their song is called “Meine Ehre Heißt Treue”, but you have not yet seen the lyrics so you do not know if it promotes national-socialism. When you see the lyrics of the song, it is actually about the band´s loyalty and dedication to the glam metal scene. To conclude, if you have a song that is inspired by something that is connected to national-socialism, it does not necessarily mean that it promotes NS or that the band is NS. As I said it before, artists (in this case, musicians) have the freedom to express themselves however they want.

  FALLACY #25: MARDUK, A FALSE DEITY?

This is another case of Christianity vs other religion, or a fallacy of Christian perspective to understand what other religion is about (god, gods, stories, myths…). This fallacy concerns the Swedish metal band, Marduk. When writing about Marduk, the author stated the following:

“MARDUK is a Swedish black metal band. They took the name from some false Babylonian deity.”

Marduk is the “solar chief” in Babylonian mythology and paganism. Marduk is also probably a metaphor for the Sun itself and the problem is as it follows: In Christianity, there is only one God who is mystical, almighty, omnipotent, omnipresent and righteous. He is the ultimate good and cannot be otherwise, while in paganism you have many Gods that represent something within nature or man itself. There are no mystical Gods or Goddesses in paganism. That is why Christians cannot interpret pagan myths and legends. The interpretation that everything is a battle between the forces of good and evil is the primal disease of the mind.

On the other hand, I want to address the second problem here. Sure, the band named itself from the Babylonian solar deity, but what if there is a band from Japan that is also called Marduk. Picture this. A hardcore Christian has already heard for the Swedish band Marduk and he thinks that every deity is false except theirs. He suddenly discovers another band called Marduk and they are from Japan. He then says: “Ah, another band called after that false Babylonian deity…”
The catch here is that they did not name their band after the Babylonian deity but after the Tekken character Marduk. They never heard of the solar deity Marduk or even Babylonian mythology whatsoever.
It would be fun to see that hardcore Christian arguing against them how they should not have the name Marduk because he is a “false deity when they are just Tekken fanboys. Two perspectives = Two worlds colliding

  FALLACY #26: THE “ERIC HARRIS AND DYLAN KLEBOLD” CASE

I will include this one in the text because of the next fatal logical fallacy: If you listen to (Satanic) heavy metal music as a kid, you will become possessed by Satan and become a killer.
I will now proceed to write a quick story about the Columbine High school shooting. On the 20th April 1999., in Columbine High School in Colorado, USA, two young men, Eric Harris, and Dylan Klebold killed 12 other children and 1 teacher from that school, while 23 children have been wounded. Later, both culprits have committed suicide. During the investigation, it has been affirmed that both of them listened to Marilyn Manson´s music and they had a fan-club in the school.
The author also wrote about it and then said:

 “From this case, it is clear that the children, directly under the influence of Satan, have done this massive crime. This is actually the most serious warning to all parents to avert their children from listening to this kind of music and these people because it leads them to damnation.”

[1]

Now, I want to address the problem from this quote. The author states that the children committed the hideous murders because they listened to Marilyn Manson´s music and because they were possessed by Satan. If listening to heavy metal music would be the sole reason to commit crimes, then every metalhead in the world would be a criminal. If the music would be the sole reason for making crime, then there would be much more murders, church burnings and so forth. We can see that his statement is absolutely not compatible with logic and the reality of this world. The author should rather make a psychological analysis of the case than just concluding that they were possessed by Satan, whatever that means. I do not believe that someone will launch a crusade if they listen to Saxon´s “Crusader”.

  FALLACY #27: MONEY COMES FIRST

Apparently, there are opinions that if someone has morbid and grotesque cover art for their album to attract people, they do it just to make money. I agree that morbid and gruesome cover arts certainly will attract most eyes, but the first thing you see is the art. I believe it would be unusual to see a heavy metal album cover with a Hello Kitty style of art. Back to the argument, it is not logically true that they to it just to make money. The artist can make the cover that is corresponding to his music, to send some kind of message, whatever his soul desires to do with it. If everybody were to make music or cover arts just to make money, everything would be soulless, commercialized and mainstream, in my opinion.

  FALLACY #28: THE PROBABILITY ARGUMENT

“This means that there are more than 20 Satanic bands in France alone. From this, you can even conclude how many such bands are there in the world”[2]

This is what the author wrote after writing about Mutiilation, a black metal band from France and Les Legions Noires, a French underground group of black metal musicians and bands.
Now, for his argument to be true, he would need to make an analysis of how much bands there are in the world that actually are Satanic. In his second sentence, he is implying that there are much more Satanic bands in the world. Without an analysis, his implication means nothing and it is definitely not trustworthy.

  FALLACY #29: OZZY OSBOURNE IS A MADMAN

Ozzy Osbourne had problems with drugs and alcohol throughout his life and one can definitely say that he has not been always clean. In my opinion, Ozzy Osbourne is one of a kind person for whom people tend to think is a madman or a psychopath. Primarily they think so because of the acts where he bit off the heads of a bat and a pigeon. If you take this out of context, probably every person will be like: “What the fuck…???”
Shockingly (to some), this does not necessarily mean that the person is mad. I will again explain what shock value is.
Shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or another form of communication, such as public execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.
Black Sabbath is one of the first bands that started using shock value as their tool of impression of stage. To conclude, these acts do not necessarily make you a madman.

  FALLACY #30: THE DENIAL OF LIFE

This is the last fallacy that I will write about. In his book, the author applied a quote by Saint Paul from “Romans” on metal bands that have anti-Christian imagery and lyrics that are, by his words, the worst insult for God, Virgin Mary, for The Church and for all Christians. I will now present the quote, only shortened:

“Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”[3]

The whole text is about how men and women have gone into doing homosexual acts, how they embraced lie over the truth about God and how they rather worshiped humans and animals than the immortal God. This part is not of my interest, but the last one is. “That those who do such things deserve death.” Notice what I have written at the beginning of the text. He applied it to the metal bands who are anti-Christian. According to his quote, we are full of envy, arrogance, deceit, and malice. Hence, someone that is an anti-Christian or maybe is not in accordance with Christian teachings, automatically deserves death. They are not much of a talker, are they?
This is where I get to my second point. Christians praise themselves how they help the poor, do charity and so on. They want to present themselves how they accept life and propagate life. It seems to me they deny life and, for those not in agreement with their religion, the propagation of death.

This is the end for now with the logical fallacies. At least concerning the Christian perspective. I hope you enjoy it and find it helpful. Onwards hordes!- The Mage


[1] Žažar, page 75

[2] Žažar, page 80

[3] Romans 1:18-32 NIV

heavy metal, Philosophy

LOGICAL FALLACIES OF CHRISTIAN PERSPECTIVE ABOUT HEAVY METAL MUSIC AND BANDS (PART 2)

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  FALLACY #5: YOUNG PEOPLE CHOOSE PLAYING HEAVY METAL MUSIC BECAUSE YOU CAN MAKE A GOOD LIVING OUT OF IT
  It is true that some bands live pretty well from playing heavy metal music but do people really choose to play such music just to earn a big amount of money? Of course not!! Almost every heavy metal band play their music because of passion towards their music and it gives them pleasure and all of them, or many of them,  started from an absolute zero. It is also well known that metal fans or metalheads are the most loyal fans to their respective genre.

FALLACY #6: YOUNG PEOPLE ATTEND SHOWS TO SEE SOMETHING SPECTACULAR AND THAT IS BECAUSE THEY ARE DECEIVED BY SATAN

  The author in his book states that Satan have put Jesus on the top of the Temple and said: “If you are the son of God, cast yourself down!”
  In other words, Satan wanted Jesus to do something spectacular but Jesus refused and didn´t let himself to be deceived by him. I believe he implicates that if people go to such concerts to see something spectacular, then they must be seduced by Satan. If this means having a blast at the concerts, having a burst of positive energy and emotions and having your mind elevated, then I love being seduced by this mystical Satan everyday!!
What about spectacles of opera music? Of dance? Natural spectacles like Aurora Borealis? Is it so bad wanting to see something spectacular and just admire it how glorious it is or can be?
I think that Christians who have this kind of perspective tend to think that everything that can be fun, spectacular, glorious, grand and overwhelmingly full of emotion is a Satan´s seducement. Maybe Satan is a synonym for these “occult” emotions.Or maybe music, dances and spectacles are Satanic and dangerous because they can develop thought.

FALLACY #7: METALHEADS HAVE CLEARLY BOWED DOWN TO SATAN JUDGING BY THEIR BEHAVIOUR

  The author wrote about how there were murders in the Norwegian black metal scene and elsewhere trying to prove that people who listen to heavy metal or make heavy metal music do vile things like murders. Just because a small number of people commited crime you cannot generalize it on the whole bunch. Then all of the metalheads would be murderers judging by his examples. On the other hand, you will always find good and bad people in every domain (metalheads, punks, religious groups, racially, ethnically…). And of course, it depends how you define good and bad.

FALLACY #8: METALHEADS HAVE CLEARLY BOWED DOWN TO SATAN JUDGING BY THEIR CLOTHING

  I believe he wanted to say either in the way how we wear all black clothing or that some metal merch have Satanic imagery on it. The first one is not so likely because nuns and priests also wear all black (of course not everyone). I think it is the second one. Should bowing down to Satan be defined as behaving badly? I don´t know but I know that you cannot ad hominem judge someone just by looking at what they wear and say something like: “Look! He has a Marduk shirt on. He probably behaves badly”. Now that is just plain nonsense.

FALLACY #9: A BAND IS SATANIC AND ITS MEMBERS ARE SATANISTS BECAUSE THEIR LYRICS ARE SATANIC

  This is of course false. Just because someone makes songs based on Satanism it does not necessarily mean they are Satanists. I will now show some examples:

  Example #1: THE PROGENITORS OF BLACK METAL- VENOM: Venom are widely known as a NWOBHM band from Newcastle which was a beginning point for extreme metal and black metal (therefore that is why it is called proto-black metal) because of their way of playing, distortion and use of Satanic lyrics and imagery. Are they Satanists because of that? No! They used Satanism as gimmick and an addition for their shock value on stage and on their albums. For those who don´t know shock value is the potential of an image, text, action, or other form of communication, such as a public  execution, to provoke a reaction of sharp disgust, shock, anger, fear, or similar negative emotions.

  Example #2: SECOND WAVE BLACK METAL: We have all probably read or heard about how the second wave was extremely Satanic because of the music they were playing, murders and church burnings. A large part of this was presented as Satanic by the media. The second wave of black metal (Mayhem, Darkthrone, Burzum…) used Satanic lyrics and imagery as an anti-christian resistance. They were not true Satanists so to speak. If I remember correctly, throughout the Medieval Ages, Christians depicted Odin as Satan and in the second wave scene they used Satan as a codename for Odin (correct me if I am wrong). I will later show physical evidence that they were not Satanists.

  Example 3: YOU CAN DO WHATEVER YOU WHAT AS AN ARTIST
  As an artist, you can do any interpretation and representation of Satan that you want! THERE ARE NO BOUNDARIES! Whether you are a musician, actor, painter, sculptor, etc., you can use Satanism or “Satan” as you seem fit for you piece of art. Your perspective, your imagination, your creation!


SUMMA SUMMARUM: IF THE LYRICAL CONTENT OR THE BAND´S APPEARANCE IS SATANIC, IT DOES NOT MEAN NECESSARILY THAT THE BAND IS SATANIC OR THE BAND MEMBERS ARE SATANISTS !!

 FALLACY #10: THE BAND IS SATANIC JUDGING FROM WHERE THEY COME FROM
  The author states in his book how the band Acheron, which was founded by Vincent Crowley and Peter H. Gilmore, members of The Church of Satan, originate from Tampa, Florida where there are a lot of similar metal bands like them and a lot of other Satanic sects. Now, it is true that Acheron is a Satanic metal band and that its members are Satanists, There is proof for it. Peter H. Gilmore is a high priest and Vincent Crowley was a reverend. But, you cannot judge if other bands from Tampa, Florida are Satanic just because they come from that place where there are allegedly a lot other Satanic sects. Just because one band is Satanic from that particular place, it does not mean others are.

FALLACY #11: BUYING HEAVY METAL ALBUMS IS A SIN

  A sin by the textbook definition is: “an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law”. As I said it before, Christianity is a world with its own laws and rules that are not compatible with logic. Best said, to them, buying such albums is wrongdoing. I cannot help myself but to notice how sins or wrongdoings make Christianity al pari with an Orwellian dystopia. Therefore, sin in this case is only compatible with the Christian understanding of it and it does not need to be in accordance with logic. Basically, people who have this kind of hard Christian perspective have their own kind of logic inside their mind.