106. Cult Cops and the Internet’s Satanic Aesthetic

This week, Lucien and Lenny pick up where recent headlines left off: Australian authorities claim they disrupted an “international satanic pedophilic network,” and the hosts unpack why that framing echoes the Satanic Panic era even as today’s internet-born extremist micro-scenes muddy the picture. They draw a hard line between sensational “occult crime” narratives and what evidence-based investigation can actually support—especially when institutions build task forces explicitly to hunt “ritual” crimes and then declare they’ve found them.Lucien also explains his suspicion that modern “satanically branded” online networks (including 764 and O9A) are being amplified or exploited as propaganda vectors, potentially intersecting with Russian disinformation efforts. From there, the conversation turns to the professional ecosystem that keeps “ritual abuse” mythology alive: the ISSTD, “trauma-based mind control,” recovered-memory culture, and the way unfalsifiable frameworks can contaminate investigations and courtroom outcomes. The episode closes with a brief look at The Satanic Temple’s effort to help members evacuate Ukraine early in the war—and why Russia’s propaganda narrative latched onto it.Watch this on TST TV: https://thesatanictemple.tv/Subscribe to Failed State Update: http://lennyflatley.substack.com/Theme music: “Satanic Planet” by Satanic PlanetFurther Reading: The Satanic Cult Crime Conspiracy Is Still Nowhere To Be Found by Lucien Greaves