March 17, 2005
YOU ARE WHAT YOU TOLERATE:
Sympathy for the Devil: Daniel Romano was just an ordinary Satanist in Queens. One jagged scar later, he's a national test case for hate crime laws. (Kristen Lombardi, March 15th, 2005, Village Voice)
If you saw Daniel Romano on the street today, you might think, hey, average young guy—good-looking and a little stylish, maybe, but not remarkable. Yet this average young guy from Middle Village, Queens, has never been one for blending in, at least not before January 9, when he says two local teenagers got out of a car and beat him with a metal pipe and an ice scraper for being an avowed Satanist in an Italian Catholic neighborhood.Gone are the blue hair and black nail polish, though he still wears a black fedora and an inverted crucifix. On a recent Tuesday, with his hair newly shaved, Romano, 20, blended in with the kids who waved and called out, "Hey, Danny!" at the corner of 72nd Street and 60th Avenue. That's where the incident Queens prosecutors are calling a hate crime took place.
Today, the only visible reminder of the alleged attack—or, as the defense lawyers are arguing, a classic fight over a bad debt—is the red scar behind Romano's left ear. Romano says he can't easily forget how the teens harassed and then jumped him. And he won't forget, he says, how they pummeled him so hard he needed 12 stitches to his head.
"Not for nothing I got whacked in my head," he says, taking in the scene of modest houses and tidy lawns. "Now I look over my shoulder more."
So do the accused, it seems. County attorneys asked a grand jury to indict Paul Rotondi and Frank Scarpinito not just with assault, but with violating the state hate crime act, which protects religious expression. On February 22, the grand jury did just that—making this the first time the law has likely been used to protect a Satanist. The friends now face up to 15 years in jail.
What's the point of a society that doesn't hate Satanists? Posted by Orrin Judd at March 17, 2005 11:33 AM
Why would a Satanist object to that sort of thing? Does Satan all the sudden not approve of random beatings?
Posted by: Timothy at March 17, 2005 11:53 AMI don't understand why people would worship Satan anyway. I mean, God offers you eternal paradise for worshipping him. What does Satan offer? An eternity or torment? Thanks, but no thanks pal.
At least when you worship Cthulu he offers to eat your soul quickly and painlessly and spare you the torment that the rest of the planet is going through.
tim: good point, why didn't the doofus interpret this as some up close and personal attention from his particular "god" ? which makes me wonder why there isn't a word for people who don't believe in the devil; sathiest ?
Posted by: cjm at March 17, 2005 12:23 PMtim: good point, why didn't the doofus interpret this as some up close and personal attention from his particular "god" ?
personally, i am a sathiest -- i don't believe in the devil :)
Posted by: at March 17, 2005 12:25 PMI'm with Timothy:
'You mean you have a problem with pounding the crap out of some guy because you don't like his.. um,
er , religion? What kind of a wussy Satanist are you?'
LOL.
Posted by: JonofAtlanta at March 17, 2005 12:50 PMWhy would a Christian do that sort of thing?
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 17, 2005 1:26 PMBecause it's right.
Posted by: oj at March 17, 2005 1:29 PMSeems to me the guy got baptized in his religion, no?
Posted by: John Resnick at March 17, 2005 1:51 PMSomeone tell him Hell is going to be a whole lot worse.
Posted by: Matt Murphy at March 17, 2005 2:28 PM"We were totally lied to by our album covers".
So, in other words, it's OK to beat up someone on a New York street corner if you disapprove of his religion?
Actually most Satanists are pretty harmless, generally decent folks who go about their business much like the rest of us. I once had a Satanist student at Rutgers. She was the real deal, her parents had a magic store in San Francisco and they knew Anton LeVey. She was a cute little girl, a good student and, as far as I could see, kept to her own affairs. She did dress a little strangely though.
Posted by: bart at March 18, 2005 10:28 AMIs 'beating up' the standard or can we get more severe, like, say, shootings? So if I park the car outside the Teaneck mosque and start plugging people as they leave Friday prayers that's OK?
Posted by: bart at March 18, 2005 11:03 AMbart:
Yes, we should rid ourselves of the profoundly anti-social.
My money's on the mosqueteers.
Posted by: oj at March 18, 2005 11:08 AMHow is a Satanist anti-social? How do you define anti-social? Heck, by your standards, a misanthrope like me probably can be deemed anti-social?
Let's punish actions not beliefs and we'll be just fine. We do too much inquiry into mental state, too much concern with why someone committed a vicious crime and not enough with insuring that those who commit crimes get severe punishment. We cannot control men's minds but we can control their actions, by making the expected value of punishment exceed the expected value of reward.
Posted by: bart at March 18, 2005 5:05 PMOJ, if that is true, then how often do you take it upon yourself to fulfill your responsibility to rid society of the anti-social? Is there any money behind that mouth?
The satanist isn't the anti-social one, the two goons who beat him up are.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 18, 2005 5:18 PMThis is NH, very conformist. Satanists hide it.
Posted by: oj at March 18, 2005 7:52 PMHow convenient for you!
Posted by: Robert Duquette at March 19, 2005 1:32 PMNo, it's why it's such a great state.
Posted by: oj at March 19, 2005 3:31 PM