christian@topaz.UUCP (03/11/87)
Evening folks! This is my first posting on this network. Just wanted to say "hi" to all my Brothers and Sisters in Christ (BASIC) and wish you all God's Blessings in whatever it is you all are doing. Second of all, I was wondering if anyone had any information on backwards messages in music. Recently, I had this discussion with a Charasmatic - Anabaptist on our floor who has gone from the extreme of almost being a terrorist in Lebanon, to being the most ultra-conservative Christian I know, almost to the point of being Amish. It's one of his claims that if we know there is a possiblitiy of our sub-concious picking up a backwards message, even if it was placed there unknowingly, bu Satan, should we take a chance and listen to it. This is even one of his more radical views, seeing as he doesn't believe there is any good in any music, including Christian music. Well, that's all. I hope some of you could lend me a hand with this. I'm just curious what you all think. In Him, Greg Ota ihnp4!wheaton Wheaton College Wheaton, IL 60187 (originally from Fairfax, VA) [There was a discussion of this on talk.religion.misc some time ago. Would someone be willing to summarize it? I'd like not to duplicate the whole discussion. As I recall, most if not all cases turn out to be false alarms. That is, if you play the thing backwards you don't get anything. The danger of some subliminal message has to be balanced against the very clear danger of spreading unjustified rumors that if believed would damage a musician's career. One would like to think that unjustified rumors would not arise in the Christian community. However there is excellent evidence to the contrary. Records are not the only victim. Various companies have been accused of having connections with Satanism, with specific allegations that can easily be disproven. In my opinion, the history of such accusations is such that one should carefully check any allegations before passing them on. In addition to the commandment against bearing false witness, unjustifed accusations cause the Christian faith to fall into ill repute. People wonder, quite justifiably, whether people who are so gullible about matters that are so easily checked are to be believed about more weighty items. --clh ]
wargo@sdics.uucp (Dave Wargo) (03/17/87)
Greg; Welcome to the net. There is a radio station (christian) that is heard in San Diego (it is in L.A.) that did some research on backwards masking. The conclusion was that the english language is such that spoken backwards it, sometimes, can be construed to make words. This is not to say that some people have not injected backwards masking to get there point across. What is does say is that if one listens long enough one can make words "appear" in the garbage. My opinion is that 1) I could probably hear anything in records played backward, yes even christian records and 2) there is so much pure trash on the records played forward that why should the musicians go thru all that work (backwards masking) when it's right there for all the world to hear. Again welcome to the net. There are some interesting conversations here from time to time. Dave Wargo ucbvax!sdcsvax!sdics:wargo Ice Cream, it isn't just for dessert anymore.