All the president's spiritualists!

You may have seen that last week in the US Senate, Republican Senator John Kennedy (Louisiana) pointed to the monster from the movie Alien (1979) and said:

"Mr. President, that's a picture of the alien from the movie 'Alien.' If you eat raw frozen shrimp shipped to the United States by other countries, you might end up looking like this. How is that possible? Because those shrimp are radioactive. I'm not kidding, they have a radioactive isotope called cesium-137 in them. It will kill you. If you eat this stuff, even if you don't turn into an alien, I guarantee you'll grow an extra ear."

I've both read and watched it, and the guy's really not joking! Here's the thing: In late August, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detected traces of radioactivity in frozen shrimp imported from Indonesia by the famous grocery chain Walmart, and the products were destroyed. Despite the FDA's report, Senator Kennedy claimed the same thing had happened again, delivering this presentation with a "Don't eat, Chief, don't eat the infidel's stuff!" tone.

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You know how the United States, touted as the world's "most powerful," "greatest," and "most supersonic" nation, suffers from appalling ignorance, and how, despite the country's scientific and technological advancements, a significant portion of its population can almost be considered "anti-science." Even if you don't, you can guess the situation by looking at the president they elected. Mormons and related sects, flat-Earthers, creationists, "creatureists" (those who believe in and pursue numerous folkloric monsters, especially Bigfoot and Wendigo), alien hunters, ghost-hunting psychics, voodoo practitioners, and so on—with their beliefs you wouldn't find even in the most outlandish fantasy novels—make up such a long list that it's quite unsettling. Not to mention, each state has its own unique folkloric beliefs and behavioral patterns that have become social traits.

Of course, these are commonplace in every country, to a greater or lesser extent; despite advances in information technology, the human species prefers religious knowledge to scientific knowledge. Because it's much easier! While you have to put in the effort to attain scientific knowledge, you can acquire religious knowledge simply by listening and watching. And if you factor in the appeal between the "boring" processes of scientific knowledge, based on trial, error, retry, and "falsifiability," and the colorful fabric of superstitions, you encounter a world where various beliefs—"saints who lift God up by the arm when he's about to fall from his seat," "angels who descend to Earth and fight against the enemy," "monsters who hunt and devour people wandering alone in the forest, some in the mountains," and demons who roam the desert winds—are rampant in diverse geographies.

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But those countries don't and can't market these beliefs as "global realities." Horror-thrillers produced by numerous countries, from Indonesia to Poland, Ukraine to India, drawing on their own beliefs, or independent (indie) films made in the US that, despite being made in the US, focus on "Mother Earth" rather than "Father God," are classified as a "folk-horror" subgenre by the Hollywood -mandated classification system. This creates a world where none of Hollywood's religious horror films can be described with the somewhat understated term "folkloric."

One of the best—in the sense of “most nauseating”—examples of this cultural ideology has to be The Conjuring: Last Rites (2025), which opened last week.

The starting point of this series, which I've expressed my reaction to at every opportunity since the first movie (2013), is the memoirs of a fraudulent couple named Ed and Lorraine Warren... This couple, who are a darker version of the television priests called 'televangels', became quite famous in the USA with the haunted house and vengeful spook cases they supposedly 'solved'. This fame has spread all over the world for the last 12 years thanks to not only The Conjuring but also the Annabelle and The Nun series produced from the same universe. The whole world knows this fraudulent 'spiritual teacher' couple as good and respectable people. Oh my, what a shame!

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These films share a common characteristic, rooted in the "American dream" and the "American way of life": Ghosts/demons always haunt middle-class white American families with many children, who are devout, churchgoers, and members of a religious community. Every "incident," whether sanctioned by the church or not, is resolved entirely through church methods—crucifixes, blessed water, certain "exorcism" prayers, and so on. Each film in the series depicts excerpts from the Warrens' lectures, the TV appearances they appear on, and newspaper articles about them, all intended to make the audience think, "Oh, it's all real!" And, for some reason, the Warrens' divine assistance is never needed by black people, those with slanted eyes, or members of other religions.

Despite all these demographics and restrictions, these stories are transformed into global stories of mainstream cinema by the dominant Hollywood production/distribution system. Yet, they are not global at all, not even folkloric!

The first film in the series constructed a story as if the women tried and killed in the Salem witch trials (1692-1693) were actually guilty. This understanding, along with the mentality that says, "Sir, don't eat the goods of infidels, you'll become a monster!", feeds off the same source and fuels the same cause.