Maria Hsia Chang on Those Given Wholly to Evil

"Many readers will find this article, a study of the nature of evil, difficult to read," she warns, noting that "our instinctive reaction to evil is revulsion" — Perfect Possession. The body of her essays begins:

Thanks to Hollywood movies such as The Exorcist, most people know something about demonic possession, although many no doubt dismiss it as superstitious hocus pocus. Few, however, including Catholics, are aware that cases of possession that come to the attention of exorcists are only of the partial or incomplete variety. There is something worse -- total or perfect possession -- which is rarely spoken of even by the Catholic Church.

One can't help but wonder if this might help explain these recent headlines — California Father Accused of Biting Son's Eye, Eating It and Richard McTear Charged With Throwing 3-Month Boy Out Car Window On I-275. Saying that the beasts responsible for these crimes were "perfectly possessed" would not excuse them; Prof. Chang notes that "no one can become possessed without some degree of consent," elaborating:

It is not just the occult that poses a danger. Any activity that impairs our mind and will is a threat to the integrity of our selfhood. The activity can be engaging the occult, abusing alcohol and drugs, or indulging in "malogens." The latter is a word coined by former public defender Jay Gaskill to refer to malevolent ideas, images, and themes in popular culture that are "as dangerous to the developing mind as biological pathogens are to the developing body." Transmitted through pornography, death-obsessed music, violent movies and television, and macabre role-playing computer games, malogens celebrate violent, even homicidal imagery, and a nihilist, anti-life ethos. Teen subcultures are especially vulnerable because they are among the most under-protected targets in American society.