When I first wrote the dissertation that was reconstructed as this book, the arena of Pagan Studies and Wicca, as one of a plethora of New Religious Movements emerging into the cultural mainstream during the 1980s, was still somewhat a fringe area of study. Indeed, neo-Pagan revivalist movements, of which Wicca is the most predominant, were still very much the target of vitriol and scare mongering particularly by religiously inspired political conservatives. Republican congressman in the United State for example, after discovering that many self-proclaimed witches served in the U.S army at military basein Fort Hood made the claim, "We believe they are satanic and that they do not deserve to have any place in Fort Hood". Republican politician Storm Thurmond asked in the senate "What's next? Will armored divisions be forced to travel with sacrificial animals for satanic rituals?" "From Introduction"
During the 1980s, the newly established industry and youth subculture associated with role-playing games came under sustained attack from schools, churches, parents and governments, instigated by the Christian Right via organizations such as B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeons and Dragons). While both the organization B.A.D.D and its claims linking Roleplaying games to youth suicide, drug use and Satanism eventually were discredited, the impact of these accusations lingers on to the present. This article examines the impact of the role-playing game "moral panic" on the role-playing game community and investigates the responses and coping mechanisms utilised by those directly targeted and harassed by churches, the police, schools and governments during the height of the "moral panic" in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The article also investigates the effect that the shared experience of being targeted by a "moral panic" had on the formation of a roleplaying counter culture and community. ; C1
Abstract: During the 1980's the newly established industry and youth sub-culture associated with Role-playing games came under sustained attack from schools, churches, parents and governments instigated by the Christian Right via organizations such as B.A.D.D. (Bothered About Dungeon's and Dragons). Whilst B.A.D.D and the claims linking Role-playing games to youth suicide, drug use and Satanism were eventually discredited the impact of these accusations lingers to the present and is still a source of hostility and resentment by gamers and a point of contention for those members of the gaming community who identify themselves as Christian. This article examines the impact of the role-playing game "moral panic" on the role-playing game community and investigates the responses and coping mechanisms utilised by those directly targeted and harassed by churches, the police, school and government during the height of the "moral panic" in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The article also investigates the effect which the shared experience of being targeted by a "moral panic" had on the formation of a Role-playing counter culture and community.
First built in 1867, the remarkable Gothic structure of the former Ararat Lunatic Asylum, colloquially known as Aradale, has overlooked the regional town of Ararat for over 150 years. Throughout its history it has seen remarkable transformations in the history of Australian psychiatry and western society's treatment of the mentally ill, and it has participated in some of their darkest scandals. Today in popular press, the labyrinthine complex is commonly acclaimed as 'Australia's most haunted building' and is home to a flourishing dark tourism industry boasting tens of thousands of visitors a year. This book explores the history of the former asylum, and examines what is it that makes a place 'haunted' in the popular imagination, and what it is about hauntings that so invariably connects them with problematic histories
The Blekinge Institute of Technology (BTH) Karlskrona, Sweden, will begin a new Master's programme focusing on sustainable development in September 2004. The programme is intended to contribute to a growing international network of sustainability practitioners, including early and mid-career professionals, resource managers, executives and political decision-makers. As with many programmes of this type, this one will require coverage of numerous complex economic, social and ecological issues. In so doing, it will cover a number of interrelated disciplines concepts and tools (e.g. environmental science, system dynamics, public policy, business strategies, corporate social responsibility, dematerialization and 'green technologies'). Various sectors of the sustainability arena will also be studied including agriculture, transportation, health, energy and product development. To deal with the high complexity inherent in sustainable development, we intend to test the enhanced learning capabilities of three unique and interrelated aspects of this Master's programme including: (1) a structured comprehension of sustainable development, using "Backcasting from Basic Socio-Ecological Principles of Sustainability"; (2) free creativity within basic constraints established by the structured comprehension and (3) a learning process that 'walks the talk' with respect to free creativity within basic constraints. Recognizing that "society within the biosphere" is inherently a complex system, the programme will revolve around a generic, structured model for planning and decisionmaking in any complex system. The model is adaptable to any system at any scale – e.g. an organization, a football game, and in this case, "society in the biosphere". The programme distinguishes five essential system levels including: (i) the system; (ii) success; (iii) strategy; (iv) actions and (v) tools. Second, a structured comprehension, anchored to basic principles at the success level – the 'trunk and branches of sustainability' – allows for and promotes free creativity on actions in a particular context – the 'leaves'. Third, the students will be exposed to a learning process of creative use of actions and tools that the model allows for in any organization – sharing the basic trunk and branches and practicing free creativity amongst the leaves. The programme's learning process will facilitate a systematic approach to analysis of all kinds of current sectors and problem areas through envisioning of solutions and finding strategic paths of actions and tools towards sustainable outcomes within those sectors. It will culminate in a thesis, following the same general structure, during the last-half of the programme.
