Fighting Satan for Fame, Fortune, and Jesus, Or Something

Who could possibly be against fighting Satan? See, that’s how the work starts. Set up the mark so they won’t dare disagree with the premise

Andrew Donaldson
7 min readDec 15, 2023
Satanic Temple of Iowa display at the Iowa Capitol. Screengrab from KCCI TV

It’s called “a work” and in the monetized content world of social and news media, knowing a work when you see one is important for folks concerned about discerning the media they are consuming.

Running a work, rigging something to look organic and real when it is really planned out, has never been easier. Slap the right buzzwords and trending terms on the work, make sure the right networks and backchannels of like-minded or mutually invested parties boost it, and voila instant viral, trending, monetizable content that gets attention on the principals involved.

Like this here situation, as told by the Des Moines Register:

A former congressional candidate from Mississippi has been charged with allegedly vandalizing the Satanic Temple of Iowa’s statue depicting the pagan idol Baphomet at the Iowa State Capitol.

Michael Cassidy, 35, of Lauderdale, Mississippi…

Hold on, we interrupt this block quote to highlight an important part of the story here. If you aren’t familiar with the geographical…

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Andrew Donaldson

Writer. Mountaineer diaspora. Veteran. Managing Editor @ordinarytimemag on culture & politics, food writing @yonderandhome, Host @heardtellshow & other media