Maybe this is too broad, but wondering if there's a better term than "conspiracy theorist" to describe some large figures in the ongoing national discourse? Not that "fluoride in the drinking crowd" were serious thinkers or total harmless, but am I alone is finding "conspiracy theory" too quaint and mild to describe how mainstream rather fringe these things are and also how totally evidence-free and something just plain dumb they can also be?
I don’t think conspiracy theories have ever been quaint and mild.
Think about the history of antisemitism from medieval blood libels to 19th century theories of Jewish financial cabals to the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” dreamed up by Tsarist agents-provocateur that took the theory global and spawned untold numbers of imitators, to Hitler’s invention of “Judeo-Bolshevism” that married traditional antisemitism to anti-Communism and nationalist populism. Conspiracy theories one and all, but fully capable of spawning pogroms and fascist dictatorships.
Likewise, we think of Anti-Masonic or Illuminati conspiracy theories as self-evidently ridiculous and harmless, but we forget that they were used by cultural conservatives in church and state to wage culture wars on the Enlightenment, liberalism, secularism, democracy, every revolution from America to France to 1848 and beyond, feminism and almost every social movement of the 18th and 19th century. People died or were surveilled or were sent to prison, political parties were formed or banned, and conservatism itself was founded in the name of “poisoning the minds of the lower orders” to inoculate them from the influence of secret societies.
As Dan Olsen has shown, even seemingly benign conspiracy theories like the JFK assassination cover-up or the Moon landing was faked or the earth is flat can hide much more malign motivations, just waiting for the opportunity to radicalize and proselytize:
I just randomly remembered this, I'm not even sure if it really happened im so sorry-- but back when we were first getting the pictures for season 2, weren't people saying that there was a freemasons symbol or something of the sort? Like a square and compass? I think it was in Edinburgh, did that actually end up happening??
I love the way Mr malevolent wrote the freemasons and the grand lodge. he very obviously did a lot of research on the organization, members, and even down to the way he described the building/ decoration style. everything is so accurate, like even in my small hick town our lodge is decorated *very* similarly to the one described. all of the awards are real, the varied age ranges, the "lodge members only" talk, it's all so accurate and I love the way he wrote it.
also detective Noel is so right about the members being the way they are. all of them suck wo badly I hate them
Part VIII
This, Freemasonry teaches, as a great Truth; a great moral landmark, that ought to guide the course of all mankind. It teaches its toiling children that the scene of their daily life is all spiritual, that the very implements of their toil, the fabrics they weave, the merchandise they barter, are designed for spiritual ends; that so believing, their daily lot may be to them a sphere for the noblest improvement. That which we do in our intervals of relaxation, our church-going, and our book-reading, are especially designed to prepare our minds for the action of Life. We are to hear and read and meditate, that we may act well; and the action of Life is itself the great field for spiritual improvement. There is no task of industry or business, in field or forest, on the wharf or the ship’s deck, in the office or the exchange, but has spiritual ends. There is no care or cross of our daily labor, but was especially ordained to nurture in us patience, calmness, resolution, perseverance, gentleness, disinterestedness, magnanimity. Nor is there any tool or implement of toil, but is a part of the great spiritual instrumentality.
“The privileged individuals and families who comprise the global elite will happily bankrupt their own countrymen, decimate their own community and evict their neighbors from houses in their desperate bid to increase their wealth.”
An age-old clash between the Catholic Church and the Freemasons has resurfaced. From historic bans to modern witch hunts, it reveals a deep-rooted and enduring struggle.
"The Freemasons are part of the global conspiracy to destroy the economy and create a one world government" is right out of The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, in case you didn't know.
If your conspiracy theory doesn't explicitly mention or blame Jews, there is a 99.9% chance it's derived from something that does.
There's a reason "The Sound of Freedom" movie exist. It is there to install fear in you. They already have the solution available for the reaction you're having because of the problem being projected to you on movie screens across America.
Give the Freemasons all your child's information, including their DNA- under the guise of "safety".
Georgia Child Identification Program
A Gift From the Freemasons of Georgia.
Georgia Masons provide the GACHIP program FREE of charge as a public service and as our gift to the citizens of our state.
The Georgia Child Identification Program (GACHIP) is a comprehensive identification kit to be offered to parents in the state of Georgia.
At a GACHIP event, Freemasons set up the equipment necessary to generate completed identification kits.
Each person progresses through several stations, taking about 10 to 15 minutes for the entire process. The recorded information is presented to the child's parent or guardian to take home for safe keeping.
"O mundo está dividido em três categorias de pessoas: um número muito pequeno que faz as coisas acontecerem; um grupo um pouco mais importante que zela pela sua execução e testemunha a sua conclusão e, finalmente, uma grande maioria que nunca saberá o que realmente aconteceu."
— Nicholas Murray Butler (1862-1947), pedagogo, filósofo e político norte-americano, ganhador do Nobel da Paz de 1931
We all not only have better intimations, but are capable of better things than we know. The pressure of some great emergency would develop in us powers, beyond the worldly bias of our spirits; and Heaven so deals with us, from time to time, as to call forth those better things, There is hardly a family in the world so selfish, but that, if one in it were doomed to die–one, to be selected by the others,–it would be utterly impossible for its members, parents and children, to choose out that victim; but that each would say, “I will die; but I cannot choose.” And in how many, if that dire extremity had come, would not one and another step forth, freed from the vile meshes of ordinary selfishness, and say, like the Roman father and son, “Let the blow fall on me!” There are greater and better things in us all, than the world takes account of, or than we take note of; if we would but find them out. And it is one part of our Masonic culture to find these traits of power and sublime devotion, to revive these faded impressions of generosity and self-sacrifice, the almost squandered bequests of God’s love and kindness to our souls; and to induce us to yield ourselves to their guidance and control.
Morals and Dogma Part V
12th Degree
Morals and Dogma Grand Master Elect - Grand Master Architect