Listen to Magister Campbell’s essay on Veterans Day for the Infernal Legion. This originally aired in the Infernal Legion Podcast #40: https://radiofreesatan.com/blog/infernal-legion-podcast-040/
Listen to the Podcast
About Magister Campbell
Magister Campbell has been creating Satanic media since XLVI A.S. (2011 C.E.) He is a Satanist and Magister in the Church of Satan. You can find all of his current and past projects on his website https://reverendcampbell.com. Join him as he continues to define the Greater Satanic Conversation.
About Infernal Legion
The Infernal Legion is the first Satanic veteran’s service organization. Members of this group are Satanists (as defined by Anton Szandor LaVey in “The Satanic Bible”) and Veterans (as defined in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations) of the United States Armed Forces.
The Infernal Legion exists as a non-profit organization designed to assist Satanic Veterans with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as well as with housing, employment, counseling, and much more. It also serves to promote the creative endeavors of Satanic Veterans and as a virtual, members only clubhouse for the warriors of the Infernal Empire, the elite of the Alien Elite!
Transcript
After so many years of addressing this US holiday I have to ask myself if I have anything else to say about it. Where does one even start? Do you quote someone else’s speech? How about the details of the holiday’s origin? How does any of that relate to Satanists or a Satanic veterans organization? How am I, a veteran myself, supposed to address my brothers and sisters in arms, or the wider audience of civilians? I believe to do so requires a bit of honesty, a bit of candor and a whole lot of reality being thrown in your face.
My name is Magister Campbell. I have the honor of producing The Tower for the Infernal Legion podcast and while that segment is about military news, as a veteran and descendant of and father to a veteran, I believe I have something to say about this Veterans Day holiday. You see my legacy didn’t begin with me, nor has it ended with me. I am one individual in a long line, and hopefully a long line to follow, of veterans who have served in the United States military. My son is actively serving in the US Marines. I served in the US Army. My father served in the US Army in the Vietnam war. My grandfather served in the US Army in World War II. My lineage goes back even further, and this is not to say I am in any way better than anyone else for my military lineage, as this is a common trait of many men and women in our country, it is something however that I am distinctly proud of.
But it’s not the lineage that makes my perspective different, it is the fact that I am the only Satanist in my lineage who has served. And how does that make me any different? Well, perhaps it doesn’t. But I would like to believe that it gives me a distinct carnal perspective that my family lacked. I didn’t serve to join in a patriotic exercise or to continue my family tradition of service. I joined selfishly so I could afford college. You would be surprised by how few soldiers serve over some manufactured patriotic duty. Patriotism is propaganda, at least the kind you see in social media and on the news. We are often programmed in our youth by our families, communities and countries to believe that we are distinctly different from any other mortal on this rock called earth. That we somehow are special while they are simply unlucky for having been born on another side of the line we draw around our country.
As a Satanist I know this is just brainwashing propaganda. Americans are not special. They are as worthless, fucked up, needy and craven as any other mortal on this planet. Americans are just as entitled, weak, obsessed and blind as any other brainwashed peoples, whether they live in North Korea, Russia or Syria. What makes me special is that I recognize that. I can see the true inferiority of the American populace even if they can’t. But relax, sit back and listen, because there is a class of Americans that ARE special. There are members of the American population that do the difficult tasks that the vast majority of Americans couldn’t do, even if they wanted to! You guessed it, I am talking about Veterans. But Reverend Campbell, I hear you say, haven’t you told me that there are Veterans who are assholes and pieces of shit in the past? Yes, yes I have, and yes, there are. But those pieces of shit, are still better than the majority of all other Americans.
Stop and think about it for just a moment. What other job is there where you prepare for war daily. Where you train to defend your brother and sister in arms when your back is against a wall, and everything you know about safety and protection has melted away? What other job accepts anyone willing and able, then trains them into the most elite fighting force in the history of the known world? If you are a cook, you train for war and qualify with a rifle. If you sit behind a computer as an administrator, you train for war and qualify with your rifle. And then there are the tip of the spear soldiers who put themselves through torture just to be the very best of the best. Do you think any civilian who hits the gym a couple times a week or sells you tires, or stocks a shelf at the local big box store is the same quality of American as a Veteran? They don’t even come close.
And what’s more, it doesn’t matter that they didn’t join or serve for the lie of Patriotism, though after service many Veterans, myself included, have found a deep sense of patriotism. A form that does not exist in images of flags or memes or social posts. It doesn’t matter that they didn’t want to serve to protect you or your entitled brats. It only matters that they did the thing that you and so many Americans refused to do. Laughed at, jeered toward, and bitched about signing up for the draft over. They raised their hand to be something more. As a Satanist who truly believes Might makes Right, I know that Veterans are better, because I have worked with them. I have trained under them. I have been raised by them and I have raised them myself. We stand at the forefront of citizenry because we are the only ones who have truly earned it.
So, does being a Satanist make you a better Veteran? No, I don’t think so. But it does make you a more aware one. Aware of the realities of the human experience. About how you see the world, and engage with it. It grants us a particular perspective and set of tools to manage and recognise the trauma that seemingly inevitably comes from service. No, being a Satanist doesn’t make me a better veteran, but being a veteran does make me a better American, and being a Satanist does make you a better human. Another human in a long line of Veterans, passing that line down to the next. I believe it’s important to stop once and a while, step out of that line, look back and reflect on what got you here. On who got you here. Then look forward to those you have set up on their journey. Know that you did what you could to prepare them to be the best warriors that they could be. And be content with your place in the line of Veterans. You did well. You did your best.
So for this Veterans Day I don’t want to say thank you. That simply isn’t a grand enough recognition of service. No, I think better than that, as a sign of true respect and gratitude for what you have done, I will simply say, Hail Satan!