Lockdown With the Devil - Chapter Three

Taking The Screwtape Letters as a model, Mr Hall envisions the demonic attack on the family during the COVID-19 lockdowns.

From One Peter Five

By Kennedy Hall

Read chapter I here

Read chapter II here

***

Malthus my boy,

I see you are continuing with the trickle of simple temptations at the mother and father, and they seem to be doing the job, for now. Constant video watching and electronic networking provides sufficient distraction for both of them. The woman is evidently open to an onslaught of what they call “reality TV,” which is in fact nothing more than a popular form of idol worship and gossip. When children witness their parents partake in such infantile pass times, they learn through a type of environmental osmosis that when they are older, they can recreate with meaningless distractions that are somehow reserved for when they are mature.

One of our most effective tricks has been to partition the supposed morality of films and other media by applying grades of maturity and guidance. Young children watch things that their parents believe are approved for their age, and as they age, the grip of supervision is gradually lifted. The family will watch an appropriate film together before the little ones are off to bed, and they reserve the “rated R” movies for adult time. This shows the children that as they age, all the immoral and hellishly good behaviour their parents warn them of actually becomes the basis for all their entertainment. Whether they are conscious of it or not, parents for decades now have tacitly approved of all forms of sexual deviance, drug use and criminal violence by reserving the “mature” films for themselves. In reality, since the parents of this age are the feeblest of perhaps any in history, young pubescents now engage in the smut and waste that parents of just a decade or two ago would have hidden from them. Fathers especially love to facilitate this, most notably when they give their young sons a “treat”—a treat for us no doubt—by sharing with them the experience of their first grown-up film. Thinking they are doing a favour for their boys, they are in reality doing a favour for us as they expose the boy to a world of glorified promiscuity and a lust for violence. Is it any wonder why most men are defenceless against the temptations of the flesh?

However, I am pained to hear that you cannot engender a habit of pornographic images in the husband. This is actually quite rare, as most men outside the Enemy’s camp at least dabble in the disgusting behaviour on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it seems as if this couple has cultivated an abhorrent level of trust in their marriage. The woman at one point strongly suggested to her husband that it would “break her heart” if he partook in that activity which guarantees us such a voluminous banquet. This man represents the most hypocritical and weak-kneed sort of weasel we encounter; he desires to indulge in animalistic imagery, but refrains only to appease his wife. His mind wanders to any place we guide it, yet he has not the courage to do what he wants—it is pathetic. Men like him are never able to abstain permanently from the activities we want. It is a matter of time before we are able to hammer into his skull the reality that he is the most shameful of pests. Just wait—when he finally does acquiesce to the call of pornography, he will acclimate nicely to that demonic crescendo that exalts his perversion in vile ambrosia, and he will see himself for the slave he truly is.

Thankfully, due to our voracious endeavours of the last century, most schools and churchmen have been robbed of their traditional teachings on the metaphysical reality of the human person. Because of this, they have no way of understanding how they sin with their bodies. You see, their souls are in fact the form of their bodies, which means that what they do with their bodies will affect their souls. Given the fact that their metacognitive faculties are housed in their souls, they cannot think clearly when the soul is sick. Therefore, we must ensure that every disgusting behaviour and perversion is encouraged, thereby transitioning a soul from a pool of clear water into a veritable latrine of deviant defecation. Remember: their sinfulness increases their stupidity. This stupidity does not necessarily apply to their practical intelligence, however they do in fact become morally unintelligent.

It is in a way quite pitiful, as men will swear to an exasperated wife that they will never partake in the filthy behaviour, yet, when push comes to shove, they have no moral resistance. Knowing full well what the consequences may be as a result of such delinquency, they still pursue the shameful habit in secret. With the advent of modern mobile devices, it is almost no fun to consider how easily we can facilitate a frequent dabbling in this animalistic dereliction. The phrase “shooting fish in a barrel” comes to mind.

At any rate, this man, for whatever reason, has a stronger conscience than is ideal, but he is not invincible. He does not fully understand why he should refrain from the activity, but he does seem to commit himself to such a sappy love and admiration for his spouse, that he will not cross her wishes for the time being. There are two ways to use a situation like this to our advantage. The first is to convince the woman that she is being unreasonable by demanding such restraint from him, and that if she were to encourage him to partake she would be helping to meet his needs. Women who acquiesce to this usually do so against their own will, and are continually disgusted with themselves for doing so. Furthermore, women who take this approach will often indulge with the husband, which is useful for us as it makes her an adulteress just like her husband. Often we are able to parlay this behaviour into full marital infidelity. Increasingly, many wives do take this approach, as they have been conditioned to view their husbands as apelike perverts, while at the same time still vying for their approval and admiration. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you… The second approach seems to fit our situation, as it seems that your woman has held firm to her anti-pornography position. In a situation like this, it is necessary to focus strictly on the moral resolve of the man, so when he does finally give in and the woman eventually discovers this fact—they always discover this fact—then the husband will appear a cruel monster who has lived a double life. Pornography is adultery, plain and simple, therefore all we must do is amplify whichever form of adultery we are offered, whether that be the internal or external forum.

In the meantime, something must be done about the messages being transmitted from that blasted teacher to their son. The boy has now become completely convinced of the philosophical reality of the Enemy and the historical certainty of the Resurrection of the Awesome and Terrible Name. To put it mildly, is not favourable to our efforts. In my experience, once a person has been fully convinced of these truths, although we may encourage him to ignore them, they can never truly forget. When a human is convinced of the truth of that historical event 2000 years ago, we are at a disadvantage indeed.

The boy is still not regularly frequenting the Sacraments. He is therefore relying on the particular graces being offered him, and still does not enjoy the steadfast foundation that the Enemy’s instruments afford the spiritual life. It is true that at the moment his “mind is blown” (ugh) by the things he is learning, but we have duped many a young man into our camp after he has enjoyed a brief reprieve on the other side.

We have so diligently chipped away at the objectivity of truth in all levels of education, which means that what this teacher is offering his students is simultaneously attractive and offensive. The truth of which the Enemy speaks is unavoidably real when it is heard, which also means that it can be startling. The world we have facilitated, not just for the youth, is a world of relativistic fantasy, rife with electronic friendships and an utter avoidance of reality. Therefore, when they come in contact with the message from our opposition, it is as if a man who has breathed smoke for decades is now taking in a gulp of mountain air. They may be pleased by it, however, it is hard to take. The work we have done has made their souls into veritable moral and philosophical paraplegics, thus many prefer to remain paralyzed than to take the first agonizing step out of hellish comfort.

For now we cannot convince the boy otherwise, at least on an intellectual level, as we have no means to defeat the opposing arguments. Nonetheless, presently you should focus your efforts and the efforts of your subservient devils on turning the boy’s friends against him. Since we invented the term “teenager” as a method to remove adolescents from responsibility (no doubt thanks to great efforts around the Great War) the need to conform to the fashions of the “peer” group has been a most useful instrument for us. Ensure that those around the boy remark at just how “judgmental” he has now become due to his nascent Christian belief. Let us see if we cannot use social pressures to shame the young man into submission.

Until next time,

Quelle

To be continued next week. 

Editor’s note: this serialization is from the novella Family Be Damned.