RavenCLaRue

Deception of a Generation (1984)

A show by two men that ruined many childhoods.

Many of us as kids were trying to enjoy the 1980s, while many who were pushing the paranoia-laced "Satanic Panic" were trying to discourage our parents and grandparents from letting us do just that, out of the fear that our toys, games, and cartoons were possible links to Occultism and that we were all going to become little servants of Satan. Oh, how wrong they were.

Gary Greenwald, a self-proclaimed prophet, left a quarter-million-dollar sign business in 1978 to start Eagle's Nest Ministries when he allegedly received prophetic words confirming his call.

Since then, he published several books, cassette lectures, and Eagle's Nest TV shows attacking but not limited to rock music, paganism, Halloween, children's toys, Saturday morning cartoons, Asian martial arts, yoga and statues and jewelry with a perceived occult influence.

With "Deception of a Generation", being joined by Phil Phillips, who wrote several books trying, in vain, to connect occultism to children's toys, joined Greenwald to present his findings about children's toys, Dungeons & Dragons, Star Wars, and even comic books having influence on children, claiming that they were a catalyst for occultism.

The only problem is much of their findings, as is the case of Greenwald's previous works, are without any conclusive or relative evidence. They watch clips of cartoons without actually watching them before hand and give out-of-context information on them, as well as the toys they look at and review.

Such outrageous claims made by the duo are old arguments that D&D led to impersonating deities, occultism, suicides, murders, behavioral alterations in pre-teens and teenagers, and that people burned D&D material and heard screams as they burned. Another laughable claim was that Star Wars was a propagator of Satanism, saying that The Force was a gift handed down to witches from Satan.

Not only is their presentation out-of-context and sorely lacking in actual evidence, but half the time also they can't even get names right, but continue to claim that every toy, game, comic, and cartoon they talk about is connected to occultism.

Anyone who would watch this show today would laugh it off as absurd, laughable, or ridiculous because all the statements made by Gary Greenwald and Phil Phillips has long since been debunked, and no connections to the occult have been found.

However, at the time of this show's release, many parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles believed these statements to be true, the true Deception of "Deception of A Generation" was rather the "Destruction of Childhoods".

Give it a watch if you want a good laugh, that's all it is good for anymore. Today, the show is considered a Cult Classic of the Satanic Panic era and it is so laughable and bad that it is good, and sadly there are people who still believe the message of it, although it has long since been debunked and considered irrelevant.