s/o Things you were once told were evil...

[Dory]

Most everything was considered evil in our house/church...but the most traumatic memory to me was when I was probably 8 or so. I loved the "Care Bears". My parents didn't have enough money to get the actual bears, but my mom found some that you could cut out of fabric and sew up. My mom did not usually do things like this, so it was a big deal! She made me the whole set. Then the person who wrote the book "Turmoil in the Toybox" came to speak at our church. He targeted the evil Smurfs, Rainbow Brite (another favorite) and of course, the Care Bears. My mom took the Care Bears and burned them. It was heartbreaking. I still miss those bears!

 

:grouphug: I'm sorry. My mom burned my Cabbage Patch dolls after listening to a speaker at our church.

[Catwoman]

Most everything was considered evil in our house/church...but the most traumatic memory to me was when I was probably 8 or so. I loved the "Care Bears". My parents didn't have enough money to get the actual bears, but my mom found some that you could cut out of fabric and sew up. My mom did not usually do things like this, so it was a big deal! She made me the whole set. Then the person who wrote the book "Turmoil in the Toybox" came to speak at our church. He targeted the evil Smurfs, Rainbow Brite (another favorite) and of course, the Care Bears. My mom took the Care Bears and burned them. It was heartbreaking. I still miss those bears!

 

:grouphug: I'm sorry. My mom burned my Cabbage Patch dolls after listening to a speaker at our church.

 

 

That must have been AWFUL!!! :(

 

I guess I was lucky that my mom was very cynical and didn't buy into any of that stuff. I don't remember anyone who thought a lot of things were evil.

Edited October 7, 2012 by Catwoman

[pdalley]

Most everything was considered evil in our house/church...but the most traumatic memory to me was when I was probably 8 or so. I loved the "Care Bears". My parents didn't have enough money to get the actual bears, but my mom found some that you could cut out of fabric and sew up. My mom did not usually do things like this, so it was a big deal! She made me the whole set. Then the person who wrote the book "Turmoil in the Toybox" came to speak at our church. He targeted the evil Smurfs, Rainbow Brite (another favorite) and of course, the Care Bears. My mom took the Care Bears and burned them. It was heartbreaking. I still miss those bears!

 

:grouphug::grouphug: I am so sorry.

 

My Mom was very into not setting many limits. But then she became a grandma and there was a demon behind everything. I got tired of telling her sometimes a tree is just a tree. There's not a boogeyman behind every single one.

[Dory]

The only things I remember being specifically told were evil were Ouija boards. This wasn't from my family but from a priest at school. He was very specific that if you owned one you should break it in half and then burn it in order to keep out the evil spirits or whatever.

 

But -- a lot of my friends played with Ouija boards back then (and me sometimes, too) and many, many of them had scary/freaky experiences with them, so to this day I am a little bit afraid of them and won't have one in my house.

 

:leaving:

 

Yeah, I'm with you on that one.

[sewingmama]

Not evil, exactly, but my grandmother was very clear in her opinion that any woman who would eat "on the street" (meaning anywhere other than at home or in a proper, sit-down restaurant) was of loose morals and in no way a lady. I still feel a slight thrill of rebellion if I eat an ice cream cone while walking in the park.

 

Oh, and heaven help anybody who got Grandma started on the subject of women chewing gum. As far as she was concerned, buying a package of Double Mint was one short step to the brothel.

 

:lol:

 

I think I love your grandma :D

 

 

Well I was told The Simpsons was evil - and now I let my kids watch it because its a lot tamer then some other shows on tv right now :001_huh:

[Hypatia.]

I was raised in the south (NC) by non-religious parents, I don't recall them telling me anything was evil. My mother didn't like ouija boards and didn't want me to have one in the house, that's the only thing I remember.

[Hoggirl]

See attached. Rock on, Bro

 

That "Hook 'em, Horns" sign IS evil!! :D

[DragonFaerie]

The only things I remember being specifically told were evil were Ouija boards. This wasn't from my family but from a priest at school. He was very specific that if you owned one you should break it in half and then burn it in order to keep out the evil spirits or whatever.

 

But -- a lot of my friends played with Ouija boards back then (and me sometimes, too) and many, many of them had scary/freaky experiences with them, so to this day I am a little bit afraid of them and won't have one in my house.

 

:leaving:

 

:iagree: Too many freaky experiences surround Ouija boards. I won't have one in my house either. While I don't believe in Satan, I do believe there is real negativity, maybe even evil, in the world, and I'd rather not open the door.

[Hoggirl]

Hook 'em, Horns!!! Oh, sorry.

 

Not quite of the same sort, but I remember back in elementary school in the mid-seventies, in Berkeley (right before we moved to Austin), we had these Q&A worksheets on pollution, littering, and the environment. There was a list of yes/no questions about things we did that hurt the environment, and I was pleased that I was answering them all "no." Because getting 100 on everything was very important to me.

 

Then the last question: "Do you drink your milk with a plastic straw?" I was horrified. Of course I did. At the bottom of the page it said that if you answered any of the questions "yes," "YOU ARE PART OF THE POLLUTION PROBLEM."

 

I never drank my lunch milk with a straw again. To this day I rarely put a straw in my glass. When I do, I feel guilty and transgressive.

 

Ya, the straws were evil, but not from an environmental standpoint: from the standpoint of using them as a child would mean you would have old lady STRAW LINES (aka smoker's lines) when you were near 50. Ask me how I know straws are evil :tongue_smilie:

[MrsBasil]

There was a family up the street from us who told me that the Smurfs, Halloween, Santa, and a million other things were evil. I hung out with the daughter, who was about my age.

 

My parents, upon hearing this, suggested I hang out with her less.

 

I never heard anything was evil from my parents or anything like that! I owned a Ouija board in fact.

 

Of course when my dad found me listening to Marilyn Manson one day he told me that Marilyn was just ripping off a singer from the 70s, so I needed to try harder if I was trying to be shocking, but if I actually liked the music than I needed a crash course in good music. He took me to an Aerosmith concert and bought me Tom Petty and Allman Brothers cds.

 

...maybe we were the evil ones? ;)

[Ellesmere]

Not me, but as a child my husband was warned of the evils surrounding: evolution, rock music (or rather, most "secular" music and CCM), pants on women, Halloween, LOTR, dancing, movie theaters, alcohol, "false Christians", tons of movies/TV shows, not having devotions, the wrong Bible translation, certain stuffed animals, having friendships with non-Christians, certain interracial relationships, missing church events, all sorts of games, using the wrong kind of "discipline", being in the "wrong" political party, certain hairstyles, cigarettes (not that it was unhealthy, but you couldn't possibly be a true Christian if you smoked), tattoos and most body piercings, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some. Oh, at one point, VCRs were thought of as evil but that idea didn't take.

 

He didn't buy it. I heard it, too, after going to his old church for awhile and thankfully we got far away from it.

 

My great grandmother was religious, but I don't think she had a spiritual reason for thinking it was wrong to do anything other than bite into ice cream if it was in a cone. She was extremely strict about it, but it was a matter of propriety for her, not spirituality.

[pdalley]

 

Of course when my dad found me listening to Marilyn Manson one day he told me that Marilyn was just ripping off a singer from the 70s, so I needed to try harder if I was trying to be shocking, but if I actually liked the music than I needed a crash course in good music. He took me to an Aerosmith concert and bought me Tom Petty and Allman Brothers cds.

 

...maybe we were the evil ones? ;)

 

Alice Cooper! :D

 

I always thought Marilyn Manson looked like a nerdy Alice Cooper. :tongue_smilie:

 

The Ouija thing sorta freaked me out but not because of anything my Mom said - it was my friend's experiences with them. (Did I kill a kitten?)

Edited October 7, 2012 by pdalley

[oldskool]

Dungeons and Dragons for sure. I was told of that children went into trances and would stay that way for years. A TV show we were told was evil (and would send my father through the roof if we watched) was Three's Company. Chewing gum was also frowned upon as it put us into a different category of women.

[LittleIzumi]

Dungeons and dragons.

 

Seriously, as a kid in school, even public school teachers were warning how EVIL it was. I remember my mom making me watch some news special show they put on about the dangers of it.

 

I remember guys that played it were the nerds and teased alot over it...

 

Now, I have a 12 year old begging me to play it with his best friends every friday night.

 

I guess I need to research it, because my first reachion was to kinda freak out on the inside. Hubby cringed and said that's a nerd game! LOL I need to research... (thoughts?)

:lol::lol: Dh's dad tnought the same, becuase there was one crazy murder where they used the game as an excuse, or they couldn't seperate fantas from reality, whatever. I just finished DMing (leading) one D&D campaign. With several people from our church in our group. I don't feel particularly Satanic today. :lol: It's just a role-playing game in a fantasy setting. I fail to see how rolling dice to see how hard your imaginary elven ranger hit is leading to the dark side.

[DragonFaerie]

As a teenager who had discovered 80s hair metal, I remember my mom packing all of my tapes in a box and putting them out in my car because she didn't want "that music" in her house. LOL

[GWOB]

Oh gosh! My parents, the people for whom I had passed around their joint clip at the age of 4, found crazy Jesus when I was 6. Everything suddenly became evil. The biggest agents of Satan were the Catholic Church (they were former Catholics), Sesame Street (because Bert and Earnie were gay), all Democrats, Madonna, everyone who didn't sing country music, and that Joyce Meyer lady (because women should be silent in church). For some reason beards were bad too. No clue on that one. Halloween was banned in my house, so I never went trick-or-treating until I dragged my evil-ballerina 14mo out. My parents thought I was making her into a Satanist. I too remember the whole P&G kerfuffle. We all had bad reactions to soap since we could no longer purchase Ivory, lest the devil enter through our pores. Oh, and "The Gays" were evil, but God sent AIDS to punish them all. Peace signs, nail polish, hair dye, Pearl Jam, Harry Potter, Ann Rice, drinking (but apparently smoking was ok since my dad was a chain smoker), Russians, raising your hands in church, Feng Shui, magic, and a whole boatload of other things were evil. I just ignored them most of the time. I knew they were crazy.

 

Now, I do teach my kids that certain things are evil, like Jersey Shore, Honey Boo Boo, Paris Hilton, scales, and the Dallas Cowboys.

[T'smom]

What a funny thread! I wasn't told anything was specifically evil, but I wasn't allowed to watch Full House because and I quote "Jesse and Rebecca acted like they were married and they're not" it is soooo funny to think back on that. I think my mom is a little embarrassed on that score. My dh wasn't allowed to watch He-Man because the rest of the title is "Master of the Universe". Dh and I laugh about these things, but wondere what our kids will laugh about when they grow up!

[Chelle in MO]

Not evil, but a "paranoid parent" moment...in Dec. '82 my mom and I were shopping at a tourist shop while on vacation in Hawaii. We were trying to pick out a t-shirt to take home to my sister. I found one that I thought she would like and showed it to my mom. In a stage whisper, my mom said "I'M NOT BUYING HER A T-SHIRT WITH MARIJUANA ON IT!"

 

:001_huh:

 

I'm pretty sure it was just seaweed.

[laundrycrisis]

The peace symbol. Astrology. Halloween. The word "gosh". Any and all meditation that was not Christian prayer. The drum beats in rock music.

[Chelle in MO]

Dh and I laugh about these things' date=' but wondere what our kids will laugh about when they grow up![/quote']

 

I shudder to think! :D

[Desert Rat]

My first grade teacher told me the devil lived in the TV. I was scared to death when my mom turned on the TV and completely freaked out. My mom told me it took her 2 hours to calm me down and get the story out of me. She totally went momma bear on that lady. I love my momma.

[Impish]

Nutella.

 

They lied.

[suzybluecheese]

A friend of mine in college had a grandmother who believed furniture with clawed feet and statues of people and animals with their mouths open were evil.

[Impish]

According to MIL, these things will send us to Hell:

Eating meat

Eating pork

Eating seafood

Alcohol

smoking

Dancing

Any music that has lyrics that aren't worshipping God.

Not sitting around staring at each other, doing nothing else, outside of church on Sabbath (which is Saturday, btw). Wolf wasn't even allowed to open Christmas gifts til after sundown if Christmas landed on a Sat as a kid.

 

and that's just what she leaves tracts at my house about, after having dinner w/us :glare:

[mytwomonkeys]

i didn't grow up in a church-going family really at all (we went christmas and easter), so i've never heard of a lot of this stuff. when we did attend, it was a presbyterian church...so, definitely no evil being taught about my toys.

 

in 10th grade i do remember listening to my depeche mode album & "blasphemous rumors" was playing. my mom came in and told me i had to turn it off. i also remember listening to huey lewis and the news in the car with my dad once. "i want a new drug" was on the radio and he huffed up and got mad, lol. i tried to tell him the drug was love, but my dad didn't care. we had to turn it off. lastly, my mom did ask me not to see "the last temptation of christ". i think i was out of high school when it came out, so i was old enough to go if i had wanted too - but she asked that i skip it, so i did. i think that was to honor my grandmother.

 

growing up, i considered my folks quite old-fashioned & conservative. but the more i read on the forums here, i realize my white collar republican folks would have been labeled drunk liberals by some:001_smile:.

[dangermom]

My parents were not into labeling things 'evil,' but a few of the ladies at my church absorbed some tips from evangelicals. Thus I heard warnings about Ouija boards and D&D (I didn't tell them that my brothers played!).

 

A very popular song at church dances was the B52's "Rock Lobster." We would just go nuts for that song. There is one part where you are supposed to get down on the floor. The boys would do a sort of dying-cockroach thing, while we girls drummed our heels on the floor in a more ladylike manner (we were all wearing nice dresses, the boys wore ties etc.). One of the mothers, who was also the most concerned about D&D, threw a fuss about "Look what it makes them DO!" and got the song banned for a while. I think she was worried that the girls would do the same as the boys, which would have been a pretty crazy thing to worry about. We had to make do with "Planet Claire." (That lady let her oldest daughter get married at 17 and was obviously thrilled with the romance of it all. Then she became a fundamentalist, left her rather beleaguered husband, and now won't speak to her children. Her whole family was pretty weird.)

 

My mom has some weird hangups, but they're all sort of hippiesque. She won't get cable because she refuses to pay for TV. Same with Costco. I was not allowed to own Barbies (not feminist) or Cabbage Patch Dolls (no way was she standing in line for any toy, and anyway she thought they were hideous), but she did get me a soft, handmade, imitation one, which really was nicer anyway. She was certainly not buying any video game consoles, but we could save up and buy them ourselves. And any sort of video device in a car is just plain decadent and is not happening. :lol:

[LittleIzumi]

Wow. I honestly don't have anything I was taught was "evil," either in church (LDS) or at home. Although my Eminem CD msteriously disappeared. :tongue_smilie:

[DragonFaerie]

Wow. I honestly don't have anything I was taught was "evil," either in church (LDS) or at home. Although my Eminem CD msteriously disappeared. :tongue_smilie:

 

Funny you mention that. My Alice Cooper "Trash" t-shirt disappeared, too. To this day, my mother swears she didn't do anything with it. I don't believe her. :lol:

[lamppost]

:lol:

 

Well I was told The Simpsons was evil - and now I let my kids watch it because its a lot tamer then some other shows on tv right now :001_huh:

 

Letting my kids watch The Simpsons is my secret shame. At least I know all the episodes so well I can usually tell if there's something super inappropriate for them coming.

[Firefly]

My parents never told me anything was evil, but I had a homeschool mom tell me recently that she felt Pokemon cards were evil because Pokemon means "pocket monsters" in Japanese...? I've also heard people say Tarot cards are evil. :001_rolleyes:

[Colleen in NS]

Too funny. So much of this brings back memories. Northern New England conservative evangelical church when I was a teen in the mid-80s. Here's another: Another One Bites the Dust.

[Audrey]

I was told witchcraft was evil. I took that as a challenge.

 

I do my worst. ;)

[Violet Crown]

A very popular song at church dances was the B52's "Rock Lobster." We would just go nuts for that song. There is one part where you are supposed to get down on the floor. The boys would do a sort of dying-cockroach thing, while we girls drummed our heels on the floor in a more ladylike manner (we were all wearing nice dresses, the boys wore ties etc.). One of the mothers, who was also the most concerned about D&D, threw a fuss about "Look what it makes them DO!" and got the song banned for a while. I think she was worried that the girls would do the same as the boys, which would have been a pretty crazy thing to worry about. We had to make do with "Planet Claire."

 

:lol::lol::lol:

I'm sorry, I'm just gobsmacked that the B-52's made someone's Church Lady list! Oh no, they're living underground! Like a wild potato! The party is out of bounds!

[dbmamaz]

Oh, my mom hated Barbies too! my mom was a secular jewish liberal intellectual . . . i was taught to fear cops and i was extremely suspicious of all christain church officials. I was honestly shocked when I found out that some ministers are nice to people in need and dont try to force them to join their religion. I was also taught that all SAHMs were being oppressed. "Empty calories" were really bad, too . . . like sugar and fat, you know.

[katilac]

Not evil, exactly, but my grandmother was very clear in her opinion that any woman who would eat "on the street" (meaning anywhere other than at home or in a proper, sit-down restaurant) was of loose morals and in no way a lady. I still feel a slight thrill of rebellion if I eat an ice cream cone while walking in the park.

 

Oh, and heaven help anybody who got Grandma started on the subject of women chewing gum. As far as she was concerned, buying a package of Double Mint was one short step to the brothel.

 

Don't forget smoking on the street!

 

Was grandmother southern, by chance? I love a lot of older southern ladies who don't blink an eye at most outrageous behavior, but heaven help you if you smoke or eat on the street.

[Barb_]

Genetics. When I was in 8th grade I told my aunt I was fascinated by genetics and I'd love to study genes. This was back in 1982 when women weren't exactly going into the sciences by the droves. She told me geneticists were just trying to play God and that they were paving the way for the anti-Christ.

[lisamarie]

I also remember spending about a year in sunday school discussing the evils of rock music and the messages you could supposedly hear if you played the records backwards. I could never hear anything and never did figure out why anyone would be trying the play them backwards except for the purposes of lessons such as those.

 

Hells Bells! You watched that video, too.:lol: We watched it when I was in high school at my Christian school. I remember being rather heartbroken because I loved music and had several of the evil cds/tapes. I admit that I do still feel guilty every time I listen to Madonna, Depeche Mode and Duran Duran (it's been years, but I do still own the cds).

 

There was something about Proctor and Gamble that was supposed to be satanic, but I don't remember the details.

 

I thought it was because they supported Planned Parenthood. But now I am going to have to ask my mom what the deal was. I do remember us boycotting them.

 

 

I'm going to list what I grew up with as being bad, but some of these I do still agree with. Some I just think are funny.

For me:

-Smurfs (Gargamal is the name of a demon so that was out)

-He-Man and She-Ra for the same reasons

-D&D and Magic The Gathering

-Ouji Boards

-Light as a feather, stiff as a board (my mom almost had a heart attack when I told her about this fun game we play at recess)

-Friends (because Ross's ex was gay)

-Bedknobs and Broomsticks (there's a witch in that movie)

-MTV and VH1

-Harry Potter

-The store Spencers, definitely bad.

 

I know there's more. I just can't think of them right now.

 

 

But considering how most of my friends grew up, my parents were considered downright liberal. Many of my friends weren't allowed to have Barbies, watch cable TV (we had it), go trick or treating (we went every year), listen to anything but Oldies or Classical music (we had our own boomboxes:eek:).

 

Sometimes my kids will ask about doing something, or DH will want to watch a movie with the kids or do something with them, and I'll be like, "No, you can't! That's bad!" Like last night when DH put on the movie Jumangi. "They can't watch that! It's evil!" DH says, "No it's not." Me-"They play with a Ouji Board." DH-"No they don't. It's just a game where the pieces move magically." I find myself having to reassess things that I just grew up assuming were bad and now having to make my own conclusions.

[Barb_]

:lol::lol::lol:

I'm sorry, I'm just gobsmacked that the B-52's made someone's Church Lady list!

Weeeeell...

[Barb_]

My great grandma used to tell me not to talk to strangers because they'd try to give me dope.

 

It was 1974. She could've been right.

[Mrs Mungo]

Not evil, but a "paranoid parent" moment...in Dec. '82 my mom and I were shopping at a tourist shop while on vacation in Hawaii. We were trying to pick out a t-shirt to take home to my sister. I found one that I thought she would like and showed it to my mom. In a stage whisper, my mom said "I'M NOT BUYING HER A T-SHIRT WITH MARIJUANA ON IT!"

 

:001_huh:

 

I'm pretty sure it was just seaweed.

 

I dunno. When we were looking at rent houses in Hawaii, many of them were listed as "420 friendly." There were lots of pakalolo shirts in the tourist shops.

[Barb_]

 

 

 

I thought it was because they supported Planned Parenthood. But now I am going to have to ask my mom what the deal was. I do remember us boycotting them.

 

 

 

That was weird; you quoted me, but I didn't say what what in your quote. Anyway, doesn't matter; I'm going to quote you now.

 

The P and G thing was their symbol. Something with the moon and stars. There was a rumor that P&G worshipped satan :lol: Now my brother works for them.

[Barb_]

I dunno. When we were looking at rent houses in Hawaii, many of them were listed as "420 friendly." There were lots of pakalolo shirts in the tourist shops.

 

Yeah, when I read the post I was kinda thinking..."A seaweed shirt in Hawaii? Nah, not likely."

[Chelle in MO]

I dunno. When we were looking at rent houses in Hawaii, many of them were listed as "420 friendly." There were lots of pakalolo shirts in the tourist shops.

 

I did secretly wonder if Mom was right and I was the naive one! Which is apparently true since I don't know what 420 or pakalolo is!!! :lol:

[susankenny]

My great grandma used to tell me not to talk to strangers because they'd try to give me dope.

 

It was 1974. She could've been right.

 

Ha! That's probably true. When my mom talked to me about pot, she kept referring to it as maryjane, lol. She had no idea what she was saying or talking about. She had a pamphlet from the PTA. I wish I had recorded that conversation:lol:.

 

Susan

[susankenny]

I did secretly wonder if Mom was right and I was the naive one! Which is apparently true since I don't know what 420 or pakalolo is!!! :lol:

 

420 (or 4/20) refers to marijuana:)

 

 

Susan

[AdventureMoms]

I was told witchcraft was evil. I took that as a challenge.

 

I do my worst. ;)

:lol::lol::lol:

[Barb_]

Ha! That's probably true. When my mom talked to me about pot, she kept referring to it as maryjane, lol. She had no idea what she was saying or talking about. She had a pamphlet from the PTA. I wish I had recorded that conversation:lol:.

 

Susan

 

:lol::lol: The question is, did you know what maryjane was? I remember in 3rd grade, one of the more precocious boys who had high school brothers let me in on a secret that his brother smoked pot. My dad smoked cigarettes, but I couldn't wrap my mind around how someone would go about smoking a cooking pot.

[Barb_]

I did secretly wonder if Mom was right and I was the naive one! Which is apparently true since I don't know what 420 or pakalolo is!!! :lol:

 

All I know is, I get a lot of hits when I google Hawaii pot shirt. Hawaii seaweed shirt? Not so much :lol:

[Catwoman]

The P and G thing was their symbol. Something with the moon and stars. There was a rumor that P&G worshipped satan :lol: Now my brother works for them.

 

Does he worship Satan? :tongue_smilie:

[susankenny]

:lol::lol: The question is, did you know what maryjane was? I remember in 3rd grade, one of the more precocious boys who had high school brothers let me in on a secret that his brother smoked pot. My dad smoked cigarettes, but I couldn't wrap my mind around how someone would go about smoking a cooking pot.

 

Well, she had this talk with me in 8th grade in the early 80's (and referred to it as "mary-jane" like it was 1970, lol). I actually did know what it was. I had tried to smoke it earlier that year, but we actually purchased oregano from the "dealer" and got completely ill smoking it! Anyway, that is my whole drug history in a nutshell. I had a stint as an "Oregano" Head:lol:

 

Susan