"Hail Satan?" (2019)

[Belacqua]

I have to wonder, what definition of success could I possibly give you that would satisfy you?

The satanic movements in France that I've studied were clear about their opposition to mainstream culture of the time. They rejected standards of success as measured by wealth, status, comfort, etc. 

It's impossible to imagine them asking to put up an expensive effigy in a government building, as if their desire was to be accepted by the mainstream they were rejecting. 

So I'm not asking for some absolute definition of success; I'm asking what those people in the movie trailer count as success. I don't know why that would be difficult. You used the word "successful" so I thought you'd have some clear idea as to what you meant. Is their definition in opposition to American values in general? 

When you say you know successful satanists, does this mean they have healthy relationships and a nice house? Or does it mean, along the lines of Baudelaire, that they live in extreme states of emotion, don't care at all what the government thinks of them, and die young? 

Think of Roland Barthes' Mythologies, or Baudrillard's talk about simulacra. They showed how most forms of rebellion in our time only serve to reconstruct mainstream values in new ways. If you believe that the satanists in the movie trailer aren't doing this, I'd be grateful to hear about it.

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Satanism is very Machiavellian, and definitely focuses on the selfish wants and hedonistic enjoyment of the self over feigned altruism.  You are a good friend because you personally like having friends, not because someone says it's the right way to behave.

This is interesting to hear. It's very different from the French "inverted Catholicism" types that I've read about, which took God very seriously. 

Selfish wants and hedonistic enjoyment would be far more in keeping with modern US culture. A different way of hustling. Pragmatic about ends, less interested in duties.