The Outlaw Interview: Eric G. Founder of the U.O.C

O.O. - Where did you grow up?

 

Eric G. - In a place far,far away,in a land just as non-happening and empty as any small town in the sticks... wayyyy up in Northern Michigan. We moved around alot as kids due to my dad's job and I would have to say I have tasted every tiny small town that place had to offer (and that isn't neccessarily a good thing)

My pass time was hunting and fishing and that about summed life up for the most part until the age of 16 when I moved to sunny FL and found out there was more to life than that hoakie lil' pit  ever had to offer!

O.O. - What is your religious background?

 

Eric G. - I was born & raised catholic. I attended CCD classes(Sunday school for catholics,only,not on Sunday,lol) twice a week until around the age of 9, I believe. I began questioning alot of things in that religion and it never helped that my supposed adult mentors in the faith was unable to offer me a solid logical answere to any question I posed. So I made the choice to quit going and luckily,after much discussion, my mother finally allowed me that choice.

Ya know? I can remember at the age of  7,I believe,when I raised my hand in class and asked my CCD teacher a big no-no question,lol.

 I asked how we knew that the bible wasn't just made up and written by a bunch of nutcases along time ago(exact words).

Though I may not have worded in such context these days,I believe that my words and my case were pretty brave for a 7 year old.

I was laughed at profusely by both her and the other kids and took one Hell of a relentless, on-going, verbal beating that day.

Funny thing was,I was made to feel stupid for a question that was NEVER answered,wtf?

I went home and cried and the experience seemed to open my eyes quite a bit more,along w/the aid of some good old fashioned rebellion beginning to finally  smolder..I learned to keep my mouth shut from thereon.

I turned to Satanism around 14 or 15.

 I met this kid named Russel who had a copy of the Satanic Bible and lent it to me. I read it and agreed wholeheartedly like most of us and to make a long story short,it went from there. I was Atheistic in my views for quite a great many years and then I suppose w/age,something simply changed in my views and I leaned more toward a  "Theistic view."

Nowadays,I take a lil' heat  on occasion concerning my views,however,"I have never once in my life been one to please a crowd for sake of fitting in."

Im here and all else stand outside of me and to me,that is what being a Satanist is all about,first & foremost.

 

 

O.O. - What are your views regarding the state of affairs in our country today?

 

Eric G. - I won't go into the whole religious right and whatnot as I believe we all see it "too well" w/our own eyes and noone needs another guy rehashing the same things everyone has been pointing out from day one,lol.

I will add my general observation though.. 

This country was doomed from the start of Democracy...all Democracies fail eventually.

Democracy,is alot like playing that game "Jenga". You have this tall solid foundation to start with but as your society grows,order is needed and therefore you have to continuously and as carefully as possible, pull a sliver of freedom away every so often to maintain it. One thing leads to another and continues on and pretty soon the whole thing falls apart eventually.

Even Pericles knew it couldn't last forever.

For the record though,I am not pro-any system other than my own.

Just ship me off to "Eric-Island" ,population "1" and I will be happy for the rest of my days,I assure you ;) 

O.O. - What is your Philosophy on life?

 

Eric G. - That my friend I am still learning,quite honestly.

What I will say is that life definately gets better with age.

Even though I certainly am not "the old man on the block",I no longer the "young pup" any longer either and some things are beginning to be seen as I age.

One tends to care less and less about the world and its problems outside him/her the older one gets. 

I am enjoying that part very much so already :)

My philosophy is "screw the world and only cater to numer-uno"

It seems that so many Satanists have an invisible governor keeping them from doing just that.

Let me tell you...I aint out to fix the world,I aint out to fix you,I am out to fix the things that concern my well-being directly,ya know? Outside of that? You are on your own simply because I couldn't care any less.

 

O.O. - As a Baker,what is your least favorite Item to prepare?

 

Eric G. - Ugh...all of it. I have been at it for 10 years now and ready for a change.

Though the money is decent,the hours just aren't worth it.

Baking means working all night long and I not a vampire by any means.

I would like to spend the rest of my days under the sun doing "who-knows what and I don't care"  :)

Afterall,I am probably the palest guy in all of Florida  and there just is no excuse for that!  lol

O.O. - You are a student of the Martial Arts, what style do you study?

 

Eric G. - Isshin-Ryu actually...the only problem I have ever had within the martial arts world is the amount of spiritual kooks it attracts (and seemingly converts).I blame Hollywood for that in much the same matter that so many wanna-be Satanists act and dress a certain way ;)

All the world is a Stage and it seems every actor has something to prove to the rest,lol.

O.O. - What is your take on our countries education system?

 

Eric G. - I do not really have much to comment toward it as I believe that it speaks well-enough for itself,lol.

I offer no solutions nor interests concerning that particular subject either.

Let Uncle Sam figure that problem out,afterall,he created it.

 

 

O.O. - What would you like to see happen in our country?

 

Eric G. - I "would like" to see a real guy up on that presidential podium.

A man that is completely independant of labels,of bleeding hearts,of religion,of criminal behavior,of a million things that I believe we have all had enough of.

Ya know what my friend? Mark my words. "It-will-never-happen",I swear my life on it.

Now, in essence,my alternative plan would be to hit the red button and start over.

 

O.O. - Do you find that you have more obstacles placed in your path as an “Open” Satanist, or just the opposite?

 

Eric G. - This is sort of a double-edged sword I suppose.On one hand, I have met alot of great folks because of it and on the other hand ,I have to watch out for how many enemies I aquire because of it. I believe just alot of cautious stepping is all that has been affected.

Most folks don't seem to mind the least bit. Afterall,it isn't that big of a deal to me, so therefore,why should it concern them either,ya know? Folks that cling to Satanism for  pure shock value and make asses out of themselves though? Those are the folks that generally take society's beatings from every direction. Rightly so I might add as well,Folks tend to see through the cloak& daggers the same as you and I.

I have always said..."If one wants to dress like a monster than one had better be prepared to be treated like one". No bitching.

The job aspect  has always gone fairly well,afterword..

 Mind you,I don't walk into job interviews w/old Baph dangling in the breeze,lol,I aint stupid,but once I'm in,things generally seem to work themselves out.

I do bump into plenty of religious nuts as well and sometimes they do present an obstacle but more often not. Now being married to a catholic girl,that was a trial in itself back in the beginning.

 

 

 

O.O. - How has being an “Open” Satanist affected your home life?

 

Eric G. - Now there is a question that hits home,lol.

I could ramble on for hours about this one but it is just too broad of a topic to speak on.

I am married to a good lil' catholic girl (seriously) and we had one Hell of alot of minor problems in the beginning.It took some time for her to adapt to myself and vs/vrs.

Examples would include my openess,her family,various world/social opinions,which as one might guess,are oil and water from our 2 standpoints. Things have since ironed themselves out very nicely long ago and hence that pretty much sums it all up.

We have both learned to simply keep our mouths shut on certain subjects,respect eachother,and just enjoy the ride together.

It has honestly been a really great ride so far,btw  :)

 

O.O. - You have been active within the Satanic Movement for at least eleven years, what changes have you seen in that time?.

 

Eric G. - Actually,that's the unity movement for 11 years,and I have been lucky enough to watch it grow.

I have also been lucky enough in the 17 plus years of my Satanic path to watch Satanism in general,grow quite bit.

Satanism is now slowly but surely taking a more active role in society which many said would never happen! We see far more run-of-the-mill  Satanists in a more open setting.

We see ourselves w/our families,our children, doing family things,building our lives and generally being what we are,what we always have been...real,true-blue,down-to-earth folks.

The difference is that for the first time in history,it is being "seen" and WE are now defining ourselves as opposed to the ignorant majority that defined us previously.

Murderers? Rapists? baby-killers,drug-addicts? etc...,lol,I DON'T THINK SO!

Its not hard to find a real,true-blue Satanist these days and when folks actually do?

It is almost never what they expected. It is almost never "who they expected", it is almost never "where they expected".

9 times out of 10?

They find out that we were right under their noses all along,lol.

We were those friends or family or aquaintences or anyone else that they may have bumped into here/there.

The first thing that always goes through their heads is that we "aren't Satanists,we can't be",lol. Tell me so many of you haven't heard this on a reg basis ? lol.

We can't be Satanists because we aren't all of those horrible things stories and heresay have always refered to us as in the past,lol.

 

O.O. - When you founded the UOC what was your main reasoning for starting it and what aspirations did you have?

 

Eric G. - My main issue back in the beginning was to continue promoting unity first and then openess later on.

Since most orgs had seemingly abandoned the concept all together,you only need one org promoting it to keep it alive and spreading,both member and non-member alike.

Unity had to happen before anything else ever could,and I wasn't about to watch it's degradation.

Of course,In "unity",I  am not speaking of some love-thy-brother hippy speak but more along the lines of personal freedom and the respecting the choices of another.

Satanism,regardless of theological/non-thelogical differences,share the same basic core-philosophy as a whole,as outlined in UOC website.

 Our primary glue is the philosophy. All else is trivial when speaking for the whole, as a whole. It has been accomplished  for the more part and has come quite a long way in the last 10 years as compared to way back in the beginning and I feel very priveledged as to have witnessed it grow from the beginning.

O.O. - Who would you consider to be your personal Hero?

 

Eric G. - Aside from the more obvious and common Satanic figures,I would honestly have to say "John Dewey Allee",founder of the FCOS or rather,"Egan", back in those days.

He had left a very profound,lasting impression on my life and taught me (alot of us actually) quite a bit.

He was the one guy that stood up to the reigning opposition back in a time when there were none at all. He made more noise in the Satanic community than any amount of boom and thunder you have ever heard ! Those were great times,lemme tell ya,lol,man were they ever!

Those "other folks" weren't used to having their eyes blackened and someone stealing their spotlight prior to him,lol. They sure didn't like it one bit!

John had started the unity concept a rolling,along w/the aid of one "Nate Leved" in a time when it was very much needed.In fact,you can read Nate's original mission plea from the original FCOS website within the UOC website.It was the old FCOS's banner to fly under at the time.

 Though deemed an eccentric nut by his detractors,he got the job done and none could argue that much.

 Of course,that was a long time ago,the John of today is no longer the Egan of yesterday and he has moved his focus toward other things for quite a number of years now.

It is a shame because the guy was nothing short of remarkable back then.

Sometimes I like to think that I continued where he left off.

O.O. - What do you feel needs to happen for Satanism to truly advance?

 

Eric G. - Openess and truthfulness...Satanist need to come to terms w/themselves and who they really are on a personal level before they are able t move forward.

Luckily,this is happening more and more before our very eyes these days!

 

 

O.O. - Do you feel Christianity is as big of a threat to Satanism as many claim it to be?

 

Eric G. - I believe Staanist are a bigger threat to Satanism than anyhting and that is where the core problem lies that I am trying to fight.

Openess and presentation are key toward fighting the more common misconceptions of society's view toward us. If only we could eliminate the asshole factor,the wanna-bes,the know-it-all egos. We are very real,everyday folks just rolling along w/life's punches,the same as any other. Once folks begin to see this,their attitudes begin to change.

I change every single person's view toward us that I meet because of such.

My goal has always been to spread this to others and UOC has been fairly successful in it's cause. I can remember a time prior when this rarely happened but nowadays it is becoming more and more common place among us. Nearly every Satanist across the net is familiar w/UOC and whether they like us or not,they all agree w/the openess issue.

If they dont'? Well,check back w/them a year later and we'll see,lol,we are an infectious little website when it comes to the issue.

 

 

O.O. - What frustrates you the most about Satanist today?

 

Eric G. - The new cos,post-LaVey,Satanists that seem mislead into "following the orders and opinions of another" rather than themselves,its sickening really.

It runs against the grain of everything old Scratch stands for!

Of course,rememebr what I had said earlier about the beauty of growing older,lol ;)

 

 

O.O. - Where do you see Satanism in ten years?

 

Eric G. - I see it more open,more widely accepted w/out most of the wannabes and shockers using it as a form of visible social rebellion.I believe the quality vrs. quantity factor will play an even bigger role as time moves forward.

O.O. - If you could make one statement to the Satanic Community what would it be?

 

Eric G. - Yeah,"Get off of your asses,bear those Baphomets once in a while and present yourselves to the public as the decent,upstanding human being that myself and you both know you are !"

In short,"Quit being a chicken-shit !"